


^^M 






"I WILL:" 




BEING- THE 




gettrmiiwtimts at t\t fpan at &aa t m firmfo 


in some 


at % "i Mills" of % fjsalms. 




BY 




REV. PHILIP BENNETT POWER, 


M.A., 


Incumbent of (J^rirf Cljttrcjj, SKorijjmg. 




AUTHOR OP "THE 'i WILLS' OF CHBIST." 




NEW YOKE: 




ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 


530 BROADWAY. 




18 6 3. 



^ 



^v 



STEREOTYPED BY PRINTED BY 

Smith & MoDottgai. E. O. Jenkins, 

82 & 84 Beekman-st. 20 North William-st. 



NOTICE 



AMEBIC AN EDITION, 



This mest delightful devotional b&ok. of which four- 
teen thousand copies have been sold in England, is 
presented to the American reader, in the hope that it 
may meet with the same favorable reception that has 
been accorded to the author's other work, " The c I 
Wills 1 oe Christ." 

Of the latter work, a gifted American author hate 
well said, "We have read this volume through, and do 
most cordially commend it to all who are seeking a 
consecrated life in Christ, our blessed Lord. The title 
may not seem a happy one, and may offend the taste of 
many ; but we have cast about for another, and can 
find none more appropriate to the purpose of the author. 
The book is composed of a series of chapters setting 
forth the life in the soul, springing from and guided by 
the "I Will" of the Lord. The sinner is first invited; 
then received ; then healed; then made a confessor of 



IV NOTICE. 

Christ; then a worker for Christ; then comforted of 
Christ under all the stern struggles of life; then 
wholly placed at Christ's disposal ; attaining to com- 
plete sanctification of the will ; and received at last to 
glory to be with Jesus where He is. We like the 
author's own style. It is clear, pointed, and eloquent. 
And we like his method of illustrating his matter by 
the facts of personal history and experience which he 
has collected. We should rejoice to learn that this 
volume found many readers ; for it is full of comfortable 
doctrine and of inspiration to a life of Christian love 
and service." 



PEEF ACE. 



It was the original design of the Author of 
this volume to have sent forth into the world a 
little book, containing a few thoughts with respect 
to each of the subjects which are to be found in 
the following pages. Hence the first subject 
treated upon, viz., Trust, although of equal im- 
portance with the rest, is not considered at such 
length; the style of its treatment also differs 
somewhat from that of the others. Almost 
unconsciously to the writer, the little book began 
to grow and develop into a large one; and all 
that he can now do, is, to hope that its increased 
size may make it of increased worth. 

Several illustrations have been added to those 
given in the first edition, especially in the chapter 



VI PRE FACE. 

on Prayer. In many of the matters mentioned in 
these illustrations, the Author has been personally 
concerned, but he has not deemed it necessary to 
specify such cases particularly. 

The reader will observe that the same persons 
and facts are frequently referred to in different 
portions of the volume ; this does not, however, 
involve any real tautology, for such is the fulness 
of Holy Writ, and such is the variety of applica- 
tion of which each portion of it is susceptible, 
that, in point of fact, a few incidents and a few 
characters answer all our need. When we con- 
sider how very few are the leading characters 
which are brought before our notice in Holy 
Scripture, it seems as though God designed to 
teach us by the few and not by many, in order 
that we, as individuals, might be taught or 
warned by the individual, and not by a class. 
Hence in part the exceeding preciousness of the 
individuality of Jesus. 

The reader who is familiar with the book of 
Psalms will also observe that many " I wills " are 
omitted in this volume ; amongst these are some 



PREFACE. VU 

which group together under different heads, such 
as the " I wills " of Confession and Humiliation, 
of Woeship, of Joy and Rejoicing, of the Mind 
and Heart, and of Obedience, together with 
many which do not range themselves in any dis- 
tinct order; these the writer preferred leaving 
untouched, rather than saying but a few words 
upon them. 

The following pages are designed rather to 
suggest than to teach, to whisper than to speak. 
Yet all their whisperings are of importance, for 
their subjects are from the Word of God ; may 
they admonish and encourage, may they remind 
and direct, may they help and confirm the people 
of the Lord according to their respective needs ; 
may they show them where they have failed to 
determine, and where their determinations have 
come short ; and, from time to time, reminded by 
these pages of these things, may they go on unto 
perfection, until the fulfilled determinations of 
time, (accepted in the blood of Christ,) bring to 
them the fruition of glory in eternity. 



CONTENTS. 



tost 
i. 

THE "I WILL" OF TRUST. 

PAGE 

The unreservedness of Trust — Trust despite appearances — Luther at 
Worms — Helps to unreservedness of Trust — Unreservedness in the 
Apostle Paul — The shipwrecked sailor — Trust though all be un- 
known — Helps to procuring this Trust — Trust in G-od, even 
though the usual instrumentality of help may be at hand — Helps 
to obtaining this Trust — Unreserved Trust in the union of cause 
and effect — The child's umbrella — Helps to obtaining this Trust 
— G-od the great object of Trust — The Psalmist's Trust in G-od in 
all developments of Himself— G-od the Ruler of the people — G-od 
in the still chamber — Ridley's sleep — The sleepless minister — 
Elijah's flight — The shadow of God's wings — Helps to Trust under 
this shadow — G-od the Fortress — Alliance between God and man 
— The Believer not alone — The strawberry plant — Mungo Park's 
moss — God in decisive action — White! ock taught by his servant — 
Co-operation between God and man — Practical thoughts result- 
ing from this co-operation — Luther and Melancthon — Circum- 
stances under which Trust is to be exercised — Times of danger 
from man — The hook in the nose — Times of helplessness — The help- 
lessness of Jacob — The time of natural fear — The action of Trust 
in the time of fear — Instances in the martyrs, Bishop Parrar, Dr. 
Taylor, Bishop Hooper, Thomas Hawkes — Hard struggle in the 
case of Rawlins White and George Tankerfield — How to endure 
pain — Howe's fear of pain — Sir Robert Peel's fear of pain 11 

1* 



X CONTE NTS. 

i. 

THE "I WILL" OF MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

PAGE 

The duty of Ministry and Testimony not fully recognised in the pres- 
ent day — The loss which God's people suffer from non-recognition 
— The Ministry of Mary in breaking the alabaster box — Loss of 
the reflex benefit of action for God — Duke Eric of Brunswick — 
The positions in which Ministry is to be carried on — Teeva's 
prayer — Ministry in the family — The mother's hand — The Church 
of Christ a sufferer by lack of Ministry — A great result from a 
small act of Ministry — The preacher's ministry to one man — The 
German Colporteur — The Sunday school child — Melancholy 
picture of the Church as regards Ministry. The world a loser by 
lack of Ministry and Testimony — The crowning missionary — 
Deathbed witness of one who died in despair 19 

II. 

THE "I WILL" OF CONVERSE. 

Low converse of the world; and often of God's people — Evil of 
labored religious conversation — Visiting — The world's ideas of 
ministerial visits — Hervey's experience— Converse in domestic 
relationship — The blessed effects of holy converse. „ 107 

III. 

THE "I WILL" OF CONVERSE. 

Continued. 

Holy converse must come from a holy heart — Subjects of the 
Christian's converse — This converse not upon vague generalities — 
Blessed results 115 



CONTENTS. XI 

IV. 

THE " I WILL " OF TEACHING. 

PAGS 

God a Teacher — The dignity of the Teacher's office — Teaching out of 
personal experience — Dark experiences capable of supplying use- 
ful teaching — Instances of this — Blessed experiences to be turned 
to account in teaching 121 



V. 

THE "I WILL 5 ' OF TEACHING. 

Continued. 

Painstaking should be found in all teaching for God— Endurance in 
Teaching — The endurance of Christ — Endurance and Talent — 
Great encouragement to this — Milne the missionary — Condescen- 
sion in Teaching — Jesus an example of Condescension — Elliot the 
missionary to the Indians — Patience in Teaching — Wesley's 
mother — The necessity of not over-driving in religious knowledge 
— The necessity of doing God's work fully — Rowland Hill — Whit- 
field — Faithful before the jury at Vanity Fair — Christ's ministry to 
sinners — The unreasonableness of expecting all smooth work 128 



Draaer, 



i. 

THE "I WILL" OF PRAYER. 

Little known or heard of the mighty powers '" Prayer " and " Faith " 
— Scripture statements of the power of Prayer — How man comes 
to pray at all — Children's prayers — Impediments to Prayer — 
Natural Inaptitude — -The difficulty to some of putting thoughts 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

into words — The Chippewa Indian — Inherent unbelief— The nat- 
ural tendency to do the most for ourselves, independently of God 
— The natural tendency to keep from alone and immediate connec- 
tion with God — Letters to he spread before the Lord — Backward- 
ness from known and felt imperfection in Prayer — Man to go to 
God just as he is 143 



II. 

THE OBJECT OF THE " I WILL " IN PRAYER. 

God the great object of Prayer in the troublous time — The impotence 
of human sympathy — The sympathy of silence — Yalue of a per- 
sonal definite view of God — The heart's desire that God would 
speak — Rutherford's remark on the Syrophenician woman — The 
silence of God — The desire for assurance of being heard — The 
great value of mental realization in prayer — Bodily acts in prayer 
— The desire that God would speak to us — The sustaining influence ' 
of the consciousness of being heard — The heart's dependence on 
God — The heart's hopelessness apart from God — Spiritual acquisi- 
tion sometimes quickly made 162 

III. 

THE "I WILL" OF PRAYER IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 

Prayer made in time of trouble by Christ — The Psalmist's position 
of distinctiveness — Malice not to be disarmed by compromise — 
Polycarp — The isolated position — The sympathy of Christ in man's 
isolation — Luther before the council — His prayer — The recognition 
of God as a Friend in trouble — The closeness of suffering must 
not be allowed to obscure the vision of God — The discovered 
hollowness of human friendship not to be allowed to throw a 
shadow on the divine. Continuous prayer under continual 
pressure — Wearing out temptations — Robert Glover — St. Augus- 
tine — Parent's prayers — Dr. Leland's testimony about them — The 
child prayed home — The door kept on the latch — The wonder of 
prayer being heard 1T9 



CONTENTS. XU1 

IV. 

THE "I WILL" OF PRAYER IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 
Continued. 

PAGE 

Various kinds of troubles — Overwhelming troubles — Crying from the 
ends of the earth — Overwhelmings of heart — Loss of natural power 
of resistance — The overwhelmings of Christ — Yisions of Sin — 
Doubts of divine love — Remarkable case of long sorrow and sud- 
den deliverance — The sense of weakness — Temporal overwhelm- 
ings — Recognition of a place of safety — the place of safety 
sufficient, when personal weakness has been realized — Christ as 
the Rock — The helping hand 211 

V. 

THE "I WILL" OF PRAYER IN THE TIME OF TROUBLE. 

Concluded. 
Prayer an unfailing resource — Dark valleys — Looking to the hills — 
Christ's upward lookings — Elevation above surrounding circum- 
stances — The power of spiritual sight in prayer — Spiritual sight 
to be exercised in distinct action — Little troubles .* 231 

VI. 

THE "I WILL" OF CONTINUANCE IN PRAYER. 

Excellence in different departments of the Christian life — Continuance 
in prayer as a habit— St. Augustine's wish — The servant who 
continued always in prayer — Prayer in special places — Prayer in 
a strange place — Prayer on the chimney top — Prayer in common 
places — Prayer without pressing need — Thoughts and interests 
which excite prayer , 242 

VII. 

THE "I WILL" OF CONTINUANCE IN PRAYER. 

Continued. 
Realization of Privilege in Prayer an incitement to continuance in 
Prayer — Communion, higher intercourse with God than worship — 



XIV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The common things of daily life to be committed to God in 
prayer— The crying child — The railway travellers — The lost 
paper — The lost purse — The rejected medicine — Travelling ex- 
penses — The operation of the Holy Ghost upon the habit of the 
mind — Results of continuance in prayer as a habit 252 

VIII. 

THE "I WILL" OF EXPECTATION IN PRAYER. 

What it is to expect in Prayer — Example from Miiller's narrative 
of the Orphan Houses at Bristol — One prayer operating upon 
several people — An answer by coincidence — The Cree Indian — 
The servant girl's missionary box — The Marquis of Argyll — Ten 
minutes' sleep — Simeon at Cambridge — Money found to buy a 
pair of shoes — The converted Jew — An answer to prayer sent by 
a singing bird — Scripture warrants for expectation in prayer — 
Power of sanctified reasoning upon the character of God — Prayer 
for £10 — The results of Expectation in prayer — Precision in 
prayer — Greater readiness in prayer — Less leaning on man — More 
cheerfulness of heart — The traveller's pack — The man with eight 
children — Energy in the use of means — Alexander's answer to 
Perdiccas — Looking out for answers to prjayer — Alleine's advice — 
The expecting Sunday school teacher — Patient expectation in 
prayer — The praying mother and her nine children — Mrs. Winslow 262 

IX. 

THE "I WILL" OF INTENSE PRAYER. 

Seasons of Intense Prayer — The time when a few hours or minutes 
must settle a question — Mr. Clarke and Dr. Prince amid the 
savages — The time of sudden calamity — The time of realization of 
the importance of the thing asked for — The time of heavy pressure 
and failing resources — Immediate and independent operations of 
the Spirit — The time of failure — The time of feeling the pressure of 
sin — The time of longing intently for inward comfort — The time 
of earnest desire for some spiritual blessing — Purely spiritual bless- 
ings — Delay not denial 295 



CONTENTS. XV 



JCtiffK, 



I. 

THE "i WILL" OF ACTION. 

PAGE 

The gross ignorance of the people of the world — The knowledge 
which the people of God have of their own ignorance — Their 
desire of being taught for action — The need of being taught in 
difficult circumstances — God's ways of teaching — Guidance with 
the eye — Honesty of mind in action 30*7 



n. 

THE "I WILL" OF HEARTINESS IN ACTION. 

The want of heartiness in many believers — What heartiness is — A 
certain amount of duty compatible with a want of heartiness — 
Heartiness has a good effect on others — Embraces a large circle — 
Heartiness honors the Christian's profession — The Hindoos' portion 
for their god — The Rajah of Burdwan — " Giving " a part of action 
— The widow and her two mites — Scripture examples of heart- 
iness — Christ, Paul, the Macedonians, the Israelites, David, &c. — 
Heartiness the work of the Spirit — Wesley's reply 324 

III. 

THE "I WILL" OF DETERMINATION IN ACTION. 

The trial of heartiness — Scripture examples of determination — 
Determined enemies — Instances of the need of determination — 
Luther's motto — Going in the strength of the Lord God — Benefits 
of the realization of external power — Consequences of this 
realization. Great efforts will be made; appearances will not 
retard action ; humility in success — Praise ascribed to God 345 



XVI CONTENTS. 



JWISfc 



THE "I WILL 77 OF PRAISE. 

PAGE 

The Christian's life like a stream — Causes of shortcoming in praise, 
viz., natural ingratitude, the giddy and non-apprehensive charac- 
ter of the heart ; the deadness of the moral atmosphere — Entail 
of loss to the individual, the world and the Church — Particulars for 
which praise is due: "Personal Creation," "Daily powers of 
enjoyment," the process of digestion — The glory of the song — The 
position occupied by praising suffering ones — Praise for " bounti- 
ful dealing " — Man's readiness to detract from God's dealings — 
Particularizing in praise — Apparently unbountiful dealings of 
God — Praise for " Help " — The churching of women often a 
mockery — Praise for ''Loving-kindness" — For "Tenderness in 
Action"— For "the Truth of God"— For "Escape from the tri- 
umphing of the ungodly " — Temporary triumphs over the people 
of God — Praise for " Hearing Prayer " 35t 



II. 

THE DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES OF PRAISE. 

Heartiness in praise — The miserable nature of unhearty praise — 
Thoughts conductive to heartiness in praise — Continuance in 
praise — The crippled widow — Praise in affliction — Increase in 
praise — Different kinds of praise — Manifestation — The good effects 
of manifestation — Extolling — The nature of extolling 388 

III. 

THE WILLING SPIRIT AND THE WEAK FLESH. 

Christ's words over the sleeping disciples — The willing Spirit looked 
at independently of results — The willing Spirit, wherein seen 401 



Cratst. 



Psalm iii, 6. " I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that 
have set themselves against me round about." 

Psalm iv, 8. " I will loth lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou,, 
Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." 

Psalm xxiii, 4. " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow 
of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff 
they comfort me." 

Psalm xliv, 6. " For I will not trust in my low, neither shall my sword 
save me." 

Psalm lv, 16. "As for me, I vjill call upon God; and the Lord shall 
save me." 

Psalm lvi, 3. " What time lam afraid, I will trust in thee." 

Psalm lvii, 1. "Be merciful unto me, God, le merciful unto me : for 
my soul trusteth in thee : yea, in the shadoio of thy wings will I make my 
refuge, until these calamities le overpast." 

Psalm lxi, 4. "I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the 
covert of thy wings." 

Psalm lxxxvi, T. " In the day of my troiible I will call upon thee : for 
thou wilt answer me." 

Psalm xci, 2. " I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my for- 
tress : my God; in him will I trust" 

Psalm cxviii, 6. " The Lord is on my side ; I will not fear : what can. 
man do unto me?" 




sue "f mm" of »n»t 

^0 dull, so wavering are these poor hearts of ours in 
faith j that very often we will not trust God. even 
in circumstances in which we would have fully- 
trusted an earthly parent. The dear children of the 
Lord are continually detecting themselves in unbelief. At 
one moment they are leaning upon human instrumentality. 
at another they are wholly at their wit's end : now they are 
full of terror at an immediate prospect of danger, and now 
they lose all rest in God : all which evils proceed from the 
want of simple faith, of child- like trust. God loves trust: 
it honors Him : he who trusts the most shall sorrow least. 
If there were continual trust there would be continual 
peace. 

Let us first notice The Unrbservedness of Trust. 
which we find in the following group of verses. 

Psalm iii, 6. u I will not be afraid of ten thousands 
of people, that have set themselves against me round 
about?'' 

Psalm xxiii. 4. " Yea, though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: 
for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff they 
comfort mer 

Psalm lv. 16, 17. '' As for me, I will call upon God: 
and the Lord shall save ?ne. Evening and morning, and 



20 



TRUST, 



at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : and he shall hear 
my voice" 

Psalm xliv, 6. " For I will not trust in my bow, 
neither shall my sword save me" 

The Psalmist will trust, despite appearances. He will 
not be afraid though ten thousands of people have set them- 
selves against him round about. Let us here limit our 
thoughts to this one idea, " despite appearances.' " What 
could look worse to human sight than this array of ten 
thousands of people ? Ruin seemed to stare him in the 
face ; wherever he looked an enemy was to be seen. 
What was one against ten thousand ? It often happens 
that God's people come into circumstances like this ; they 
say "all these things are against me;" they seem scarce 
able to count their troubles; they cannot see a loop-hole 
through which to escape ; things look very black indeed. 
It is great faith and trust which says under these circum- 
stances, " I will not be afraid/*' 

These were the circumstances under which Luther was 
placed, as he journeyed towards Worms. His friend 
Spalatin heard it said, by the enemies of the Reformation, 
that the safe conduct of a heretic ought not to be respected, 
and became alarmed for the Reformer. " At the moment 
when the latter was approaching the city a messenger ap- 
peared before him with this advice from the chaplain, ' Do 
not enter Worms ! ' And this from his best friend — the 
elector's confidant— from Spalatin himself! * =* * * 
But Luther, undismayed, turned his eyes upon the mes- 
senger, and replied, ' Go and tell your master, that even 
should there be as many devils in Worms as tiles on the 
housetops, still I would enter it.' The messenger returned 
to Worms with this astounding answer. ' I was then 



TRUST. 21 

undaunted/' said Luther, a few days before his death, 'I 
feared nothing. 5 ? ' 

At such seasons as these the reasonable men of the 
world, those who walk by sight and not by faith, will think 
it reasonable enough that the Christian should be afraid ; 
they themselves would be very low if they were in such 
a predicament. Weak believers are now ready to make 
excuses for us, and we are only too ready to make them 
for ourselves ; instead of rising above the weakness of the 
flesh, we take refuge under it, and use it as an excuse. 

But let us think prayerfully for a little while, and^ we 
shall see that it should not be thus with us. To trust only 
when appearances are favorable, is to sail only with the 
wind and tide, to believe only when we can see. Oh let 
us follow the example of the Psalmist, and seek that un- 
reservedness of faith which will enable us to trust God, 
come what will, and to say as he said, u I will not be afraid 
of ten thousands of people, which have set themselves 
against me round about/' 

Helps to unreservedness of trust. 

1. Remember how many changes things take, and that 
they do not always end according to appearances ; there- 
fore it does not follow, that because they now look badly, 
they must of necessity end badly. 

2. Remember that all can be turned hither and thither 
at any moment, and to any extent that God chooses ; and 
if His mind towards us be unchanged, present appearances 
should not terrify or crush us. 

3. Consider the Scripture examples of dark appearances 
but bright issues. 

4. Consider examples within your own experience and 
knowledge. 



22 TRUST. 

5. Kemember that any one can trust, or seem to trust 
God when all things are going on well ; that the believer 
must shew his faith by trusting when things appear to be 
going ill. 

6. Remember that this is a special opportunity for glo- 
rifying God, over and above all ordinary ones. 

To do all this is hard indeed ; but there is great grace 
for hard requirements, if it be sought.^ Let us ma,ke 

* This was St. Paul's experience in 2 Cor. xii, 7 — 10. "And lest 
I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the reve- 
lations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of 
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this 
thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And 
He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee : for My strength is made 
perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my in- 
firmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take 
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in 
distresses for Christ's sake : for when I am weak, then am I strong." 

See the unreservedness of trust displayed by Paul in the tempest, in 
Acts xxvii, 22 — 25. " And now I exhort you to be of good cheer : for 
there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For 
there stood by me this night the angel of G-od, whose I am, and whom 
I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought before Csesar: and, 
lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, 
be of good cheer : for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told 
me." 

Even when circumstances assumed a darker aspect, his faith was un- 
shaken. Yerses 33 — 35. "And while the day was coming on, Paul 
besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day 
that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. 
"Wherefore I pray you to take some meat : for this is for your health : 
for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. And when 
he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence 
of them all : and when he had broken it, he. began to eat." The result 
we know, " And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land." 

How favorably Paul here contrasts with Peter in Matt, xiv, 30. "But 
when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and beginning to sink, 
he cried, saying, Lord, save me." 



TRUST. 23 

this prayer, "Lord give me that unreserved faith which 
will enable me to trust Thee unreservedly, despite all 
appearances. 7 ' 

The following recent occurrence will perhaps sometimes 
come into the reader's mind, when he thinks that ruin is 
about to be brought upon him by some either apparent or 
real misfortune : — 

A Belgian vessel, called " The Leopold," recently ran, 
in a violent storm, on a rock, near one of the Falkland 
Islands, on the coast of Patagonia, and went to pieces. It 
Was supposed that all her crew, nine in number, and their 
officers, bad perished. A letter was, however, subsequently 
received from one of the crew, named Declerk, announcing 
that he alone escaped. He swam to an island. He found 
no inhabitants, and had to live on some bits of bread which 
had been washed ashore, wild celery, and some birds, which 
he killed with a stick. Happening to have matches with 
him, he succeeded in lighting a fire, which he fed with 
turf. To make his fire burn well, he partly surrounded it 
with some planks w r ashed ashore from the wreck. One 
night the wind blew these planks into the fire, and they 
were consumed. He thought this a terrible misfortune, 
but it was the means of saving him. An American ship 
happened to be passing two miles off, and seeing the rising 
smoke — an extraordinary thing on a desert island — some 
of her crew disembarked. They found the poor fellow 
crouching over the fire, and on hearing his tale, they took 
him on board. 

The Psalmist will also thus trust, even though all be 
unknown. 

We find him doing this in Psalm xxiii, 4. "Yea, 
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 



24 TRUST. 

I will fear no evil." Here, surely, there is trust the most 
complete. We dread the unknown far above anything that 
we can see ; a little noise in the dark will terrify, when 
even great dangers which are visible do not affright; the 
unknown, with its mystery and uncertainty often fills the 
heart with anxiety, if not with foreboding and gloom. 
Here, the Psalmist takes the highest form of the unknown, 
the aspect which is most terrible to man, and says that 
even in the midst of it he will trust. What could be so 
wholly beyond the reach of human experience or specula- 
tion, or even imagination, as "the valley of the shadow of 
death," with all that belonged to it? but the Psalmist 
makes no reservation against it; he will trust where he 
cannot see. How often are we terrified at the unknown ; 
even as the disciples were, who " feared as they entered 
into the cloud ;" how often is the uncertainty of the fu- 
ture a harder trial to our faith than the pressure of some 
present ill ! Many dear children of God can trust Him 
in all known evils ; but why those fears and forebodings, 
and sinkings of heart, if they trust Him equally for the 
unknown ? How much, alas ! do we fall short of the true 
character of the children of God, in this matter of the un- 
known. A child practically acts upon the declaration of 
Christ that " sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" 
we, in this respect far less wise than he, people the unknown 
with phantoms and speculations, and too often forget our 
simple trust in God. 

Let us seek for grace to exercise a simple trust as re- 
gards the future ; just to be content with seeing God in it, 
as the Psalmist was. He said, " I will fear no evil, for 
Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort 
me." Whatever the unknown was, God was in it, and that 



TRUST. 25 

was enough for him. Oh ! how would this simple trust 
dispel a multitude of fears ; how would it rid us of gloomy 
forebodings ; how would it take many of its terrors even 
from death itself: how would it enable us cheerfully to step 
onwards into the future ; how many heart-aches, how many 
perplexing thoughts, how many sleepless nights would it 
save us ! The unknown is God's — God is in the unknown : 
be that enough, my soul, for thee : say " I will trust, I 
will not fear ; the darkness is no darkness, my God. to 
Thee ; I will trust without reserve." 

Let the very fact of our not being able to concentrate 
our thoughts upon the unknown, make us concentrate our 
thoughts upon the truth, that " whatever it may bring forth, 
God is in it for His people ;" and in that trusting thought, 
we shall find rest. 

Helps to procuring this trust. 

1. Consider that in all known circumstances, God has 
ever been found equal to His people's need : hence there is 
every reason to believe that He will be thus found in the 
unknown also. 

2. Remember that the unknown future contains no 
chance : its arrangements are all as distinctly made by God, 
as have been those of the past. 

3. Reflect upon the very position in which you *ire 
placed. Do your utmost, you cannot grapple with, or 
make provision for, the unknown ; therefore, unless you 
trust God in it and for it, you never can have peace. 

This also is no easy attainment ; but if we would live ud 
to our privileges, or honor God fully, we must say with 
David, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for Thou art with me, 

2 



26 TRUST. 

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. 77 We must trust 
unreservedly, even where all be unknown. 

We are further taught by the Psalmist to make God 
the great object of our trust, even though the usual human 
instrumentality of help may be at hand, 

"I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword 
save me, 77 said he in Psalm xliv, 6; and that, after having 
expressed his belief that great things were about to be ac- 
complished. " Through Thee will we push down our 
enemies ; through Thy name will we tread them under that 
rise up against us." 

Human means and appliances are not to be thrown away 
as useless or despised, but the temptation of trusting in 
them must be guarded against. The sword and the bow 
were surely the fittest things so far as human appliances 
went, wherewith to go against the enemy : they seemed to 
make provision for all circumstances of warfare, for distant 
skirmishing, and for hand to hand engagement ; but, what- 
ever they might have been for use, they were valueless as 
objects of trust. 

We are continually prone to lean upon the instrument. 
to expect much from it, from its tried efficiency, from its 
suitability to the occasion, from its being apparently pro- 
videntially ready to our hand ; and thus we very often come 
insensibly to think too much of the instrument ; tve expect 
certain results from it, as though it had powers and ener- 
gies of its own. When we succeed, we say, "how admi- 
rably the instrument works ; 77 when we do not, we blame 
the instrument, and say, "how it fails. 7 ' Satan contrives 
to hide a snare even in the midst of God's blessing ; when 
God prospers an instrument, Satan is pretty sure to mag- 
nify it. We must be very careful ever to put God above 



TRUST. 27 

the instrument ; to keep our reliance specifically upon Him ; 
on no account to lose sight of Him in the instrument. Even 
in good things, and amongst the children of God, the error 
of which we are now speaking is too frequently committed. 
For example : — how much is expected from a preacher, 
while little is expected from a recognition of the One by 
whom the preacher has been sent ; how much from human 
friends, from the advice of certain physicians, from certain 
well-known and efficacious remedies, and the like, without 
its being remembered that God makes use of these means, 
and that they have no virtue in themselves. We shew prac- 
tical unbelief, when we feel peace because w T e have certain 
means at hand, and not because God Himself is near to help. 
Under these circumstances, the sword and bow are our com- 
fort ; we go in Saul's armor ; we do not make mention of 
the living God. It may be that our human instrument is 
weak ; that we have no more than the five smooth stones of 
the brook, or the handful of meal in a barrel, and the drop 
of oil in a cruse, but we cling to it nevertheless ; we can 
see it, and sight has ever more power than faith for poor 
human nature. If we want a blessing upon the means, let 
us put them in their proper place. They cannot be abso- 
lutely trusted ; in themselves they have the elements of 
failure, weakness, and miscarriage ; they can be depended 
upon, only so far as faith can recognise God in them ; yea, 
and even more than this, God as able to do without them. 
In daily life, we too often present the extraordinary spec- 
tacle of men trusting in machinery, without recognizing its 
motive power. We cannot expect God to prosper anything 
which intrudes itself into His place, and detracts from His 
honor ; the bow will be effectual in proportion to our recog- 
nition of the fact, that it is He who must direct the arrow's 



28 TRUST. 

flight ; the sword will be powerful in proportion as we re- 
cognise the truth, that it is He who gives the strength to 
grasp its hilt, and skill to whet its edge ; to cut, to parry, 
or to thrust ; the means will do most, when the God ot 
means is recognised most. Let us reflect on this, and act 
upon it in matters of daily life ; let us say with David, " I 
will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me ;" 
and with him, doubtless, we shall be able to add, "But 
Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to 
shame that hated us. ? ' 

Helps to attaining a trust which will put God above 
means. Let us remember that 

1. All human means have in them only the virtues which 
He has bestowed, therefore He can withdraw from them 
their virtue, or increase that virtue at any moment. 

2. No matter how much certain means are in themselves 
calculated to produce certain ends, a thousand counteract- 
ing influences or circumstances may intervene to neutralize 
or destroy their efficacy, therefore, unless God be above the 
means, and not dependent upon them, we cannot be sure 
that all will go well. 

3. When all means fail, God is as well able to work as 
when they abound. 

4. Even if the means be at hand, by using them wrongly, 
or feebly, we may fail in producing the desired result. 

5. God will be sure to blast the means if we put them 
above Him, or make them independent of Him. 

Thus He did in the case of Asa, mentioned in 2 Chi on. 
xvi, 12. " And Asa, in the thirty-and-ninth year of his 
reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceed- 
ing great, yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but 
to the physicians." " Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the 



TRUST. 29 

man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." 
Jeremiah xvii, 5. 

There remains yet one point to be observed, with refer- 
ence to the unreservedness of the trust which we should 
put in God. 

In Psalm lv, 16, the Psalmist says, " As for me I will 
call upon God, and the Lord shall save me." Here we 
have cause and effect linked together, and the Psalmist r s 
unreserved trust in the union of the two ; he will call, and 
the Lord shall save. 

It would be blessed indeed for the Lord's people, if they 
continually exercised the trust expressed in this verse ; if 
they felt, that when they called, He would both answer and 
save. This trust would bring us gladly to our knees, for 
we should always feel sure that our labor upon them was 
not in vain in the Lord ; it would dispel a thousand fears ; 
it would give energy to our prayers ; it would save us from 
casting about hither and thither for help ; it would simplify 
many of the intricacies of the spiritual life. While others 
were rushing to and fro, asking what could be done, and 
trying one thing and another, we should see our way clearly 
before us ; the use of the "I will " would settle all for us ; 
our trust would bring us peace; we should say, "As for 
me I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me." 
Alas ! how often do we call, not as though we expected 
God to act in our behalf; the utmost we can say is, "I will 
call and perhaps the Lord will save me;" we do not realize 
the truth, that effects must follow real calling upon God ; 
our prayers are rather trials whether the Lord will be 
gracious unto us, than petitions founded upon the full 
assurance that He will be so. If our feelings were put 
into words, they would be expressed somewhat thus; "I 



30 TRUST. 

will call, but I do not know whether the Lord will answer 
me or not." Oh ! for a larger measure of trust in the ex- 
ercise of prayer. Oh ! for a fuller belief that for all spirit- 
ual sowing there must be spiritual reaping ; that no prayer 
offered in distress and in faith can come to nought. This 
faith would give us power with God, and we should prevail; 
it would give us that spring of energy which is conferred 
by the prospect of success. See how the prospect, or 
rather the certainty of success, sent David forth with a 
springing step to meet the giant in single fight. " This day 
will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand ; and I will smite 
thee, and take thine head from thee ; and I will give the 
carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the 
fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth : that 
all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And 
all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with 
sword and spear : for the battle is the Lord's, and He will 
give you into our hands." 1 Sam. xvii, 46, 47. David 
acted out this confidence. " David hasted, and ran towards 
the army to meet the Philistine." 

If our trust were such as to give us a belief in the power 
of prayer, many a thing which now seems impossible would 
be easy : we should know how to produce great spiritual 
effects; we should pray with this conviction, " An answer 
(only in the Lord's way and time) ivill surely come." Let 
us not be above learning from a little child. 

At the time of a great drought, several pious farmers 
agreed to hold a special meeting to pray for the much- 
needed rain. When the appointed time came, the minister 
was surprised to see one of his little Sabbath-scholars bring- 
ing a huge old family umbrella, and asked her why she did 
so on such a lovely morning. The child gazed at him with 



TRUST. 31 

evident surprise at the enquiry, and replied, "Why, sir, I 
thought as we were going to pray God for rain, I'd be sure 
to leant the umbrella." While they were praying, the 
wind rose, and the clear sky became clouded, which was 
soon followed by a heavy thunder-storm, by which those 
who came unprepared to the meeting were drenched, while 
Mary and the minister were sheltered by the umbrella her 
faith had led her to bring. 

Here are some practical helps to believing in this union 
of cause and effect, in prayer. Let us call to mind, 

1. The large promises given in Holy Scripture to 
prayer. 

2. The statements which Holy Scripture makes on this 
head. 

3. The character of God as a true and faithful God. 

4. The many instances of this recorded in Scripture. 

5. And also in our own experience. 

Thus, then, we have seen something of the Psalmist's 
unreservedness of trust, May we aspire to having the 
same. May we seek to grow in grace until we can say, • • I 
will trust the Lord despite appearances ; I will trust in 
Him though all be unknown ; I will trust in Him, and 
not in means, though means be ready to rny hand ; I 
will be sure that if I call, He will hear : that there is an 
answer for every prayer. 75 

We have now, in the next place, to consider The great 
object or this Trust. It is God. God in personal 
relationship with the soul; God assuming various 
aspects, according to that soul's need 

That God does assume a variety of aspects, the soul ex- 
ercised in spiritual things well knows. It recognises Him 



32 TRUST. 

as ever the same God, although under different develop- 
ments of Himself ; just as a man knows that a prism is the 
same prism, although it exhibits different colors under dif- 
ferent circumstances, and at different times ; or as a man 
knows that a building is one and the same, though at one 
time the most prominent object be its massive buttress, and 
at another its tapering spire. At one time, the prominent 
idea of God is that of a Father ; and at another, that of a 
Ruler ; now, He is the refuge ; and now, the Shadow for 
the afflicted soul ; as is man's need, so is God's develop- 
ment of Himself toward him. 

And here, in this book of Psalms, we find determinations 
to trust God in each development of Himself; the Psalm- 
ist will not trust Him in one development of Himself, but 
refuse to do so in another. He does not say, " I will feel 
safe in thee as a Refuge and a Fortress, but I cannot feel 
so safe only under the shadow of Thy wing ;" he does 
not say, " I will trust Thee if Thou drawest me into the 
secret of Thy tabernacle, but I will not trust Thee amid 
the ten thousands of the people." The " I will " of real, 
trusting, faith and love, is fixed on God Himself, irrespec- 
tive of times and seasons. It is well, however, to contem- 
plate the specific characters under which God presents 
Himself, as in relationship to His people ; and to endeavor 
to attain to that high measure of faith, which will enable 
us to trust God in each of them. 

If we turn to Psalm iii, 6, a passage to which we have 
already referred, we find the Lord there coming before us, 
as " the Ruler of the people." Ten thousands swarm 
around the Psalmist, but he will not be afraid. And the 
only ground upon which fear could be removed is the 
supremacy of God ; the thought that, however lawless 



TRUST. 33 

the people were, and however independent in their own 
mind, He was loftier than them all ; He was Ruler in very 
truth. 

Let us say, " I will not be afraid ; I will trust, because 
I know that God is ruler over all." Circumstances often 
arise when it is a blessed thing for God's people to be able 
thus to trust. Enemies appear in perhaps unexpected 
quarters ; it may be that we find our foes even amongst 
those of our own household ; here and there we find them 
starting up, and even those who we hoped would have been 
on our side prove the most bitter against us ; sometimes we 
become the victims of a series of isolated attacks ; and 
sometimes the enemy comes in like a flood, bursting upon 
us like a column of soldiers trained to act in concert. Is it 
not most comforting at such times to be able to trust in 
God as the " Ruler of the people?" One stronger than 
their malice or their passions, able to put His hook in their 
nose, and His bridle in their lips ? Why should I be so 
much afraid of such and such an one 5 if God be the Ruler 
of the people ? Why should I fear such and such a party, 
if God can sway and turn their hearts and plans exactly as 
He will ? Why should I compromise principle, either to 
gain their favor or avert their wrath ? Enemies of various 
kinds we meet with in the world ; some who are our enemies 
on religious grounds, and some who are so for some worldly 
reasons, yet without any fault of ours. The way to be at 
peace, no matter what they say, or do, or plot, is to trust 
God in his character of a Ruler ; and then, like the Psalm- 
ist of old, we can say, " I will not be afraid of ten thousands 
of people, which have set themselves against me round 
about." 

We have now to retire for a moment from the strife of 



34 TRUST. 

tongues, and the open hostility of foes, into the stillness 
and privacy of the chamber of sleep. Here, also, we find 
the " I will " of trust. " I will both lay me down in peace, 
and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." 
Psalm iv, 8. 

God is here revealed to us as exercising personal care 
in the still chamber. And there is something here which 
should be inexpressibly sweet to the believer; for this 
shews the minuteness of God's care, the individuality of 
His love; how it condescends, and stoops, and acts, not 
only in great, but also in little spheres; not only where 
glory might be procured from great results, but where 
nought is to be had save the gratitude and love of a poor 
feeble creature, whose life has been protected and pre- 
served, in a period of helplessness and sleep. How blessed 
would it be if we made a larger recognition of God in the 
still chamber ; if we thought of Him as being there in all 
hours of illness, weariness, and pain ; if we believed that 
His interest and care are as much concentrated upon the 
feeble believer there, as upon His people when in the wider 
battle field of the strife of tongues. There is something 
inexpressibly touching in this "laying down ?? of the 
Psalmist. In thus lying down, he voluntarily gave up 
any guardianship of himself; he resigned himself into the 
hands of another ; he did so completely, for, in the absence 
of ail care, he slept ; there was here a perfect trust. 

Many a believer lies down, but it is not to sleep. Per- 
haps he feels safe enough so far as his body is concerned ; 
but cares and anxieties invade the privacy of his chamber ; 
they come to try his faith and trust ; they threaten, they 
frighten, and alas! prove too strong for trust. Many a 
poor believer might say, " I will lay me down, but not to 






TRUST. 35 

sleep.' 7 The author met with a touching instance of this, 
in the case of an aged minister whom he visited in severe 
illness. This worthy man's circumstances were narrow, 
and his family trials were great; he said, " the Doctor 
wants me to sleep, but how can I sleep with care sitting on 
my pillow T V It is the experience of some of the Lord's 
people, that although equal to an emergency, or a contin- 
ued pressure, a re-action sets in afterwards ; and when they 
come to be alone, their spirits sink, and they do not realize 
that strength from God, or feel that confidence in Him, 
which they felt while the pressure was exerting its force.* 
We have a remarkable instance of this in the case of Elijah 
in 1 Kings, xviii, xix. At the end of the former chapter 
he is represented to us as alone confronting the idolatrous 
Israelites, the wrath of the king, and the four hundred and 
fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of 
the grove : in the beginning of the latter he is a fugitive, 
running away from the threats of a woman. When Elijah 
heard her threat he arose and went for his life. There is 
a trial in stillness ; and oftentimes the still chamber makes 
a larger demand upon loving trust than the battle field. 
Oh ! that we could trust God more and more with personal 
things. Oh ! that He were the God of our chamber, as 
well as of our temples and houses. Oh ! that we could 
bring Him more and more into the minutiae of daily life. 
If we did this, we should experience a measure of rest to 
which w T e are, perhaps, strangers now : we should have less 
dread of the sick chamber ; we should have that unharassed 
mind which conduces most to repose, in body and soul : we 

* Bidley's brother offered to remain with him during the night preced- 
ing his martyrdom, but the Bishop declined, saying, that li he meant to go 
to bed, and sleep as quietly as ever he did in his life." 



36 TRUST. 

should be able to say, " I will lie down and sleep and leave 
to-morrow with God!" 

Beloved ! Shall we not follow the Psalmist's example ; 
shall not we also say, " I will both lay me down in peace 
and sleep ;" shall not we also surrender ourselves into the 
holy and personal care of the Lord ? Let us observe how 
loving trust secures rest, and the relaxation of the over- 
strung soul. The Psalmist would lay him down ; he could 
take rest in God, and God's personal care of him. But 
how is it with us ? If our trust be small, we can seldom 
thus rest and refresh ourselves in God ; we cannot, if I 
might so speak, enjoy the pleasure of quiet in Him, and 
with Him ; we may be able to walk, run, fight, speak, sing, 
anything, or everything, but rest. 

Let us endeavor, then, more and more, in holy trust, to 
realize the personal and vigilant care of God ; to see that 
He who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 
Let us lea.rn as Luther did, who, looking out of his win- 
dow one summer evening, saw, on a tree at hand, a little 
bird making his brief and easy dispositions for a night's 
rest. " Look," said he, "how that little fellow preaches 
faith to us all. He takes hold of his twig, tucks his head 
under his wing, and goes to sleep, leaving God to think 
for him /" 

God is honored by such trust, and we, on our part, shall 
be benefited ; and as he who is well rested, comes forth 
from the privacy of his chamber, refreshed for the trials 
and labors of the day, and prepared to bear its burden and 
heat; so we, also, having been drawn aside from all turmoil 
for awhile, and enjoyed the security and conscious peace 
which is to be had in the felt presence of being alone with 
God, may go forth, ^ble to do and to endure what, other- 



TRUST. 37 

wise, might have been too much for our overtaxed strength. 
Jesus says to His people now, even as He did to His dis- 
ciples of old, il Come ye aside, and rest awhile." 

We now turn to Psalm lvii, 1, in which we have God 
presented to us under another aspect, as one with over- 
shadowing wings. " Be merciful unto me, God, be 
merciful unto me : for my soul trusteth in Thee ; yea, in 
the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until 
these calamities be overpast." The same idea occurs in 
Psalm lxi, 4. " I will trust in the covert of Thy wings.' 7 

We are all familiar with the image presented to us here, 
from its use by our blessed Saviour with reference to Jeru- 
salem. " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how 
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as 
a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye 
would not I" Matt, xxiii, 37. And here, as in the care 
shewn in the sick man's chamber, there is a special per- 
sonal presence of God, in which the soul finds ground for 
trust. But there is something peculiarly sweet and precious 
to the believer in the simile before us now ; there is the 
active interference of love on behalf of an endangered loved 
one ; there is that endangered loved one's faith and trust, 
making the shadow of the wing, to be sought as the sweet 
refuge. 

Let us observe here, the trust of the Psalmist in the 
presence of calamities. We often pray to be delivered 
from calamities : we even trust that we shall be ; but we 
do not pray to be made what we should be, in the very 
presence of the calamities ; to live amid them, as long as 
they last, in the consciousness that we are held and shel- 



38 TRUST. 

tered by God, and can therefore remain in the midst of 
them, so long as they continue, without any hurt. 

This continuing in the presence of the enemy, or of trial 
brought on by him, will be no more than was the lot of 
many an ancient worthy, yea, of the Captain of our salva- 
tion, Jesus Christ Himself. For forty days and nights, 
the Saviour was kept in the presence of Satan in the wil- 
derness, and that, under circumstances of special trial, His 
human nature being weakened by want of food and rest. 
The furnace was heated seven times more than it was wont 
to be heated, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were 
kept a season amid its flames, (as calm and composed in 
the presence of the tyrant's last appliances of torture, as 
they were in the presence of himself,) before their time of 
deliverance came. And the livelong night did Daniel sit 
amongst the lions, and when he was taken up out of the 
den, " no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he 
believed in his God." They dwelt in the presence of the 
enemy, because they dwelt in the presence of God. " Thou 
preparest a table before me," says the Psalmist, " in the 
presence of mine enemies." Psalm xxiii, 5. And the 
promise of Israel is also ours. u When thou passest through 
the waters I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through 
the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame 
kindle upon thee." Isaiah xliii, 2. 

The hen shelters her chickens under her wings in the 
very presence of the enemy. Ah ! how do we shrink from 
the presence of the enemy. We would have the enemy 
taken away from us, or have ourselves removed from him. 
We can, perhaps, exercise faith as regards either of these 
events : but to be able to live safely, and under a conscious- 






TRUST. 3d 

ness of shelter in his presence, is another thing ; this is 
undoubtedly, a high degree of faith and trust. This we 
find the Psalmist exercising here ; and this may the Lord 
enable us to exercise also. It is for His glory that we 
should dwell at times in the presence of our enemies : that 
we should be there under the shadow of His wing, and in 
effect, say, "My God can sustain my cause, despite your 
continual efforts and presence. He need not destroy your 
activity, and annihilate you. in order to keep me in safety ; 
He can continually and evenly neutralize all your efforts ; 
your intended prey is kept continually in your sight, but 
you have no power to touch it, or to do it any hurt." Satan 
is often thus foiled. He has not to go and look for the 
believer. He has not the satisfaction of saying, tc Iwas 
crushed by a force so far superior to me, that it was no dis- 
grace to me to be foiled." He has the misery of feeling 
his impotence against a sheltered believer ; of knowing that 
the prey is, as it were, actually within his reach, and that 
he cannot touch it. And although this presents no visible 
spectacle to the human eye, yet we may be assured that it 
does to that of those, who can see invisible things. How 
is Satan put to shame before his kindred evil spirits, when 
the weak believer is actually in his sight, actually before 
him, and he cannot touch him ! How is his impotence 
against the saints brought forth ! How are the promises 
of God proved good, and His mercies proved true ! We 
may rest assured, that great ends are being accomplished 
by our being kept in the midst of calamities, kept in them 
as well as from them. Let us remember this, when we 
contemplate the passage now before us ; let us seek to be 
kept in trial when God calls us thereto, and cultivate, by 
the help and teaching of the Spirit, that determined trust 



40 TRUST. 

which shall enable us to say, " In the shadow of Thy wings 
will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." 
" I will trust in the covert of Thy wings." 

The passage before us has yet further meaning, and 
brings to our notice not only the preservation of the be- 
liever in the midst of calamities, but also his actual close- 
ness to God. To be under the shadow or covert of the 
wing implies closeness ; to be under the shadow of God's 
wing, implies " closeness to God." Let us weigh this well; 
let us attempt to realize it, and it will bring great peace 
and assurance to our hearts. We know what a perfect 
sense of security the child has, from the consciousness of 
nearness to its parent. One step away from that parent, 
and all is trembling and tears ; but there is no need of 
these, when the child hides behind the parent, or touches, 
or holds him. God is close to His people, and is willing 
that they should both know and feel it. Satan comes 
close, and the Lord will not be far away ; when we realize 
the closeness of the Evil One, there is no reason why we 
should not realize the closeness of God also. The stronger 
faith is, the closer will it ever draw a man to God ; and 
the feeling that we are near God, and that God is near us, 
will give us peace. There is, perhaps, no sense of security 
so great as that which man derives in this way. The 
"covering with the wing " implies an " immediate pres- 
ence of God, and that in connection with us," which must 
be of inestimable price, when danger is actually at hand. 

Once more : we have here brought before us the idea of 
warmth. While the wing shelters from impending evil, 
the body infuses some of its own warmth into the sheltered- 
one ; and thus, perhaps, the vital heat is restored, the cur- 
rent of which was impeded by the chill which we know 



TRUST. 41 

« 

comes on with fear. If we act as the Psalmist did. and 
seek the sheltering wing in real, trusting faith, we also 
shall find warmth as well as safety. God will impart to 
us of Himself ; our vital heat shall come from heaven. The 
believer would be saved many and many a cold shiver, if 
he habitually sought the sheltering wing ; many a tremor 
which shook the soul might thus have been stilled : and 
many an icy feeling have been thawed : and though natural 
resources would have supplied no warmth, warmth would 
have come from God Himself. 

All comfort in present calamity is to be had by nearness 
to God. Such comfort many of the ancient saints possessed. 
Paul and Silas could even sing praises in their prison- 
house. Nearness to God will infuse into us that which no 
nervousness, no fear can chill ; in nearness to Him we shall 
find, that, even in the midst of tribulation, comfort can 
abound. The Rev. Charles Simeon's life contains a ** Mem- 
orandum on meeting with injurious treatment," which con- 
cludes in these words : "My experience all this day has 
been, and I hope will yet continue to be, a confirmation of 
that word, l Thou wilt hide me in the secret of Thy pres- 
ence from the strife of tongues.' Insult an angel before 
the throne, and what would he care about it ? Just such 
will be my feeling, whilst I am hid in the secret of my 
Redeemer's presence." 

The following thoughts may help some of the Lord's 
people to hasten under the shadow of His wing, when 
calamity comes on. 

1. At such times the warmth of our love is likely to 
cool, and by great nearness to God we shall receive fresh 
heat, which shall hold our soul in life. 

2. When the believer shelters himself under God's wing. 



42 TRUST. 

Satan has to deal with God, rather than with him, and so 
he becomes sure of deliverance. 

3. Any attempts to stand out alone, and fight in our own 
strength, and with the measure of grace which we pos- 
sess, apart from the immediate recognition of God. will 
be sure to bring upon us the consequences of spiritual 
pride. 

4. When close to God hidden under His wing, the most 
prominent idea in the believer's mind will be, the im- 
mediate nearness and presence of God; and that will bring 
him peace. 

5. There is ever in God a perfect readiness to receive 
and shelter us ; and that, even after we have been wounded 
by our own rashness and presumption. If we will but 
seek the refuge, we shall be sure of welcome. 

We now turn to another aspect in which God presents 
Himself as an object of the believer's trust. 

The Psalmist says, in Psalm xci, 2, "I will say of the 
Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress." The shadow of 
the wing brought before us the idea of even a mother's 
care, her love joined with protection ; here we have not so 
much an active as a passive defence. Resistance, the 
power of repelling assault, and such like circumstances of 
war, come prominently before us. 

It is beside our present purpose to enter into all the 
points, in which a similitude exists between God and a for- 
tress ; let us rather consider His appearance under this 
aspect, in relation to the shadow of the wing, which has 
just come under our notice. There is a strong contrast 
between the two. We have seen the believer's defence by 
the watchful eye, by the head turning every way to meet 



TRUST. 43 

the assault, by the very intensity of life exercising itself 
on its behalf; (and it is a blessed thought that intensity of 
life, even of God's life, is in exercise for the sheltered 
believer ;) but now we see the frowning fortress, the thick 
and battlemented wall ; all is still, in the consciousness of 
mighty strength. The idea before us is the repelling of 
assault by strength : the trembling creature within the for- 
tress is not presented to our view at all ; he is there, that 
we know ; — the presentation is that of the great God Him- 
self, in all His might. 

The fortress is an edifice planned for purposes of defence ; 
forethought is to be seen in all its arrangements and con- 
trivances. The hen shielding her chicken, developes the 
active instinct of nature : the fortress shielding one taking 
refuge in it, developes forethought, and arrangement, and 
skill. From the prominence of these various ideas, there 
is great comfort for the trusting believer. When he thinks 
of the first, he says to himself, " God's very nature secures 
His active interference on my behalf;" when he thinks of 
the second, he says, " God's mind, as well as God's nature, 
is on my side. Satan has to contend against God in His 
forethought, and His plans, and His arrangements ; and as 
all these develope infinite wisdom, what prospect has he of 
being able to succeed against me ? '' This thought would 
at times be very profitable to us, for we are tempted con- 
tinually to make our own plans, and to trust in them. 
We will construct an entrenchment in the open field, it 
shall evidence our skill, and be defended by our valor ; but, 
alas ! our mighty resolutions often end in our defeat.^ 

* Thus it was with the Israelites when they attacked the Amalekites 
and Canaanites, as recorded in Numbers xiv. " And they rose up early 
in the morning, and gat them up into top of the mountain, saying, 'Lo, 



44 TRUST. 

But what can Satan, skilled though he be in all spiritual 
sieges, as well as personal encounters, do against the mind 
of God ? There he finds every contingency guarded against, 
every avenue closed, every possibility of assault utterly 
destroyed ; he may survey the fortress, he may make a 
demonstration against it, he may, in his madness, even go 
so far as to venture to assail it, but the fortress must be 
stormed, before the one taking refuge in it can be hurt. 
Here it, trembling, yet trusting believer ; God must 
cease to be, before the Evil One can take away thy life ! 
Thou art surrounded (if I might so speak) by the arrange- 
ments of God ; all His foreknowledge and wisdom are keep- 
ing thee, all His strength is put forth for thee ; surely a 
realization of this should help thee also to take up the 
Psalmist's words, and say, "I will say of the Lord, He is 
my strength, and my fortress." 

This idea stands forth, also, by its visiblity, in strong 
contrast to that of the invisible watcher in the still cham- 
ber. The fortress is something built, and established, and 
manifest ; it gives an impression of strength from its very 
appearance ; it is a plan carried out into a result. Under 
this aspect it is our privilege to see our God. When He 
presents Himself in the aspect of a fortress for His people, 

we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised : 
for we have sinned.' And Moses said, ' Wherefore now do ye transgress 
the commandment of the Lord ? but it shall not prosper. Gro not up, for 
the Lord is not among you ; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall 
fall by the sword : because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore 
the Lord will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the 
hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, 
departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the 
Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited 
them, even unto Hormah." 



TRUST. 45 

He shews Himself as simply carrying out His own designs. 
To love them j to protect them, to save them from the 
strongest assault, to present an impassable barrier to the 
utmost efforts of their foe, these are God's designs. He 
carries them out in Himself. As stone cemented to stone, 
presents to the enemy a front which he cannot successfully 
assail, so all that makes up the glorious character of God, 
connected and knit together, presents an obstacle to Satan, 
against which his utmost efforts cannot prevail. Oh ! that 
we fully realized the strength of the fortress, the refuge 
which is ours ! Oh ! that we trusted it as we should, nay, 
let us not say "as we should/ 7 but "as it is our privilege 
to do." God loved His own people from all eternity ; God 
thought of them, and for them : God intended to manifest 
Himself on their behalf ; He determined that the excellen- 
cies which were in Himself should assume a substantial 
development for them. The believer may not only say, 
M I know what God thinks for me." but also, "I know 
what he is for me." And the more he ponders this, and 
seeks for the grace of faith, and enlarged trust, the more 
plainly will the outlines of his mighty fortress begin to be 
visible ; point after point of its great strength will develop 
itself, as the mists which hang around his spiritual vision 
disappear; and he will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge 
and my fortress ; my God, in Him will I trust." 

It is, further, a source of comfort to the believer to re- 
flect, that that on which he puts his trust is established 
and immovable. Changes take place above and around 
the fortress, but its massive buttresses still stand unmoved, 
and its battlements frown defiance at the strength of the 
foe. The clouds above are fleeting past, it may be in sil- 
very brightness, or it may be in pall-like gloom ; the leaves 



46 TRUST. 

are budding, or fading, according to their seasons upon the 
earth ; but there stands the fortress, established and un- 
changed. 

And why is it that many of the Lord's dear people do 
not realize the great comfort which, from the very fact of 
God's being their fortress, ought assuredly to be theirs ? 
Because they look at the changes going on all around, and 
so miss the truth that He is unchangeable. So long as 
Peter looked at Jesus, all was well ; but when his eyes 
were turned to the waves, and he saw that the sea was 
boisterous, then his faith began to fail. If we look at the 
clouds, ever varying, and never continuing in one stay, we 
are not likely to be impressed with the idea of stability ; if 
we look at the changing leaves and trees, " continuance " 
is assuredly not the idea that will come prominently before 
our minds ; but let the aspect of the heavens, or of the sea- 
sons, be what they may, there stands the fortress ; and 
" continuance " is one of the grand ideas connected with it. 

We greatly need to have impressed upon our minds, a 
deep conviction of the firmness, the abiding nature of the 
character of God. We look at ourselves, and our feelings ; 
and at times, when all seems favorable, take some refuge in 
them ; but then they change, and we are in distress. We 
look at the effect which time appears to have had on some, 
who once seemed the greenest in the garden, and we see 
them verging to decay, their first love having waxed cold ; 
but we look not at God in Christ, unchangeable and un- 
changed, "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." 
Let us look at our fortress, and not what is going on 
around it, or at the numbers about to come against it, and 
seek for grace to trust. 



TRUST. 47 

The last aspect which we have to notice, in which God 
presents Himself as the object of His people's trust, is in 
Psalm cxviii, 6. " The Lord is on my side, I will not 
fear : what can man do unto me ?" 

A fresh set of ideas seems brought before us here : em- 
bracing, no doubt, many of the points which we have al- 
ready considered, but distinctive, nevertheless. The reason 
which the Psalmist gives here for his trusting, or for his 
not fearing, is the great fact that the Lord is on his side ] 
and the prominent idea which this brings before us is Al- 
liance ; the making common cause, which the great God 
undoubtedly does, with imperfect, yet with earnest, trusting 
man. 

We know very well, the great anxiety shewn by men, in 
all their worldly conflicts, to secure the aid of a powerful 
ally ; in their lawsuits, to retain the services of a powerful 
advocate ; or, in their attempts at worldly advancement, to 
win the friendship and interest of those who can further the 
aims they have in view. When Herod was highly dis- 
pleased with them of Tyre and Sidon, they did not venture 
to approach him until they had made Blastus, the king's 
chamberlain, their friend. If such and such a person be on 
their side, men think that all must go well. Who so well 
off as he who is able to say, " The Lord is on my side?" 

The great God Himself, then, makes common cause with 
His people. We would beg the reader to dwell upon these 
two words, " common cause." The believer's cause is 
God's; and why? Because God's cause is the believer's 
also. This may not appear prominently at first sight. 
The tried and tempted believer, absorbed in his own neces- 
sities, and in the pressure which he is feeling, and the trial 
he is enduring, may say, " I am the sufferer: I trust in- 



48 TRUST. 

deed that God will help me, but His aid will come as an 
external help ; it will be an outflowing of His goodness 
towards me." Thus he speaks ; but he does not say, " His 
interests are identified with mine ; He will be on my side, 
because my cause is His cause, and His cause my cause ; 
because we are in relationship, and must have a community 
of interest." 

The realization that the cause of God, and that of the 
believer are one and the same, will ever make the saint 
seek, and feel sure of having His help, in hours of trial ; 
he will never feel so sure, as when he knows, that the Lord 
is working for His own name's sake. Here, then, is a 
grand position of strength. The believer says, r I know 
that instead of being in conflict with evil, I might have 
been left under the power of evil. I know that had I been 
left to myself, I might have been found in the ranks of 
those whom I now count as my bitterest foes. But He has 
called me to the knowledge of the truth, and now His in- 
terests are as much concerned as mine ; He will help me, 
not only for my own individual, personal sake, but also for 
His own sake. 

A community of interest is a wonderful bond amongst 
men ; we consider it the strongest guarantee for unity of 
action ; we want no other bond than this ; we feel that it 
stands in the place of all others. We think rightly. Alas ! 
for the selfishness of man, that it should be so. There is 
another side, however, in which this community of interest 
is to be looked at ; and from this point of view the idea of 
selfishness is wholly excluded. God cannot be selfish ; He 
has given us one grand proof that He cannot be; He 
" spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us 
all." In the case now before us, God appears on man's 



TRUST. 49 

side, not only because He loves man, but because that for 
which the believer contends is the truth ; and for holiness' 
sake, and truth's sake, God will stand upon his side. God 
is for truth and for holiness, and the believer has by grace 
been called into the knowledge of these, and by circum- 
stances, into conflict for them ; he cannot, he shall not 
stand alone, God will be on his side. 

It is a matter of great importance to realize this ; for it is, 
under any circumstances, a trying position, to stand alone. 
We may be, we no doubt often are, called upon to stand 
alone, so far as earthly companionship is concerned. Elijah 
was in such a position, so was Daniel, so was David ; and 
many a solitary one in a family, and many a minister in a 
dark and dreary district, has known the bitterness, the dif- 
ficulty, and the trial of such a position. We cannot secure 
ourselves from it. When we seem best supported by hu- 
man help, then may come a sudden stroke, and we may be 
left to get on as best we can, with increasing enemies, and 
thickening clouds. It is at periods such as these, that 
men's hearts have often failed them. They seem to them- 
selves to be deserted as Uriah was, in the forefront of the 
battle, that they may be slain ; they say with the prophet, 
"I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away ;" 
and at such periods but one thing can avail them, and that 
is, the realization that God is on their side. At such 
times the people of the Lord must see into the invisible ; 
they must discern a helper where man can see none ; they 
must (if they would avert the direst calamity) be able 
practically to say, " The Lord is on my side.' 7 If they 
cannot do this, we need not wonder if something akin to 
despair take possession of their minds. They see the en- 
emy; perhaps he draws out all his forces, on purpose to 

3 



50 TRUST. 

overwhelm the poor tried believer with a sight of the fear- 
ful odds which seem to be against him. How can he face 
such a multitude alone ? 

Let God's people, on occasions like these, learn a lesson 
from the lilies of the field, and the fowls of the air ; even 
they are not alone — the first are clothed by Him, the 
second are fed by Him. The people of God, if they read 
nature aright, might learn much from even her humblest * 
page ; for the bending grass has a voice as distinct, if not 
as loud, as the sturdy oak. Myriad voices ever testify that 
God is near. This truth was founded beautifully realized 
a little while ago by one of the agents of the London City 
Mission, who was visiting in one of those courts where the 
houses are crowded with inhabitants, and where every room 
is the dwelling of a family. In a lone room at the top of 
one of these houses, the agent met with an aged woman, 
whose scanty pittance of half-a-crown a week, was scarcely 
sufficient for her bare subsistence. He observed, in a bro- 
ken teapot that stood in the window, a strawberry plant, 
growing and flourishing. He remarked, from time to time, 
how it continued to grow, and with what jealous care it was 
watched and tended. " Your plant flourishes nicely ; you 
will soon have strawberries upon it." " Oh, sir," replied 
the woman, " it is not for the sake of the fruit that I grow 
it." " Then why do you take so much care of it?" he in- 
quired. "Well, sir," was the answer, " I am very poor, 
too poor to keep any living creature ; but it is a great com- 
fort to me to have that living plant, for I know it can only 
live by the power of God ; and as I see it live and grow 
from day to day, it tells me that God is near." A small 
moss was the means of sustaining the courage of the cele- 
brated traveller Mungo Park. He was robbed by banditti 



TRUST. 51 

on the 25th of August, 1796, when on his road from 
Kooma to Sebidooloo, and was stripped of everything. 
" After they were gone," he says, "I sat for some time 
looking around me with amazement and terror. Whichever 
way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. 
I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth 
of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage 
animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred 
miles from the nearest European settlement. All these 
circumstances crowded at once on my recollection, and I 
confess that my spirits began to fail me. I considered my 
fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to lie down 
and perish. The influence of religion, however, aided and 
supported me. I reflected that no human prudence or fore- 
sight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. 
I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still 
under the protecting eyo of that Providence, who has con- 
descended to call Himself the stranger's Friend. At this 
moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary 
beauty of a small moss, in fructification, irresistibly caught 
my eye. I mention this, to show from what trifling cir- 
cumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for, 
though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one 
of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate confor- 
mation of its roots, leaves, and capsula, without admiration. 
1 Can that Being (thought I) who planted, watered, and 
brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a 
thing which appears of so small importance, look with 
unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures 
formed after His own image ? surely not !' Reflections like 
these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and, 
disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward, 



52 TRUST. 

assured that relief was at hand ; and I was not disappointed. 
In a short time I came to a small village." 

And even if the tried and tempted saint be not reduced 
absolutely to despair, he is at least very likely to be 
depressed to a fearful extent. He may be conscious of his 
rectitude of purpose ; he may be fully convinced of the 
abstract truth of all for which he has to contend ; he may 
believe that God can do great things ; but it is all to no 
purpose if he cannot realize the presence of God on his 
side. Once let the conviction of this have full power upon 
the mind, and then the believer becomes strong indeed, and 
independent of outward circumstances. He may be deserted 
of his own wife, as Job was ; or of his chief friends, as 
David was ; or of those who had companied with him the 
longest, as Jesus was ; but the consciousness that God is 
on his side will carry him through. 

Dear reader I are you sure that God is on your side ? 
Is your case like that of Peter's ; though Satan desires to 
have you that he may sift you as wheat, do you feel that 
Jesus says of you, '■' But /have prayed for thee, that thy 
faith fail not V Have you made peace with God through 
the blood of the Lamb ? Do you love that which He loves, 
and hate that which He hates? Are you true in these 
feelings, although perhaps very imperfect, and very weak ? 
Do you realize tha/t God has been pleased to bind Himself 
to you, by your acceptance of the Saviour as your own ? 
Then you, also, like the Psalmist, need not fear what man 
can do unto you, nor what can be done against you, by those 
evil spirits which are stronger than man, and work by man. 
It is highly possible that you may have to stand alone — 
and yet not alone, for the great God is with you. The fact 
of His being on your side is everything ; in that thought 



TRUST. 53 

you will find both strength and peace. " If it had not been 
the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say ; if it 
had not been the Lord who was on our side, wnen men rose 
up against us : then they had swallowed us up quick, when 
their wrath was kindled against us : then the waters had 
overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul : then 
the prou& waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the 
Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our 
soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers : 
the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in 
the name of the Lord, wl^o made heaven and earth." 
Psalm cxxiv. 

The thought of decisive action, or taking an active part, 
is also plainly brought out here. We cannot say that a 
man is on our side if, when we are hard pressed, and need 
his aid, he remains passive, and takes no steps on our be- 
half. The very expression which we are considering now, 
implies assault, and help given in that assault ; one is as- 
sailed, or obliged to stand upon his defence, and another is 
lending him his aid, or prepared so to do. 

It cannot be denied that God's people too often forget 
His activity.* They look upon Him as reigning above, as 

*It is not uncommon for Satan to keep before the eyes of God's people 
the value of their own activity, while he carefully hides the activity of God. 
The consequence is, trust in self, and distrust of Him, followed by discom- 
fort and distress. Self, and the part self has to play, take up a position in 
the mind wholly disproportioned to their importance. Whilst called upon 
to act, and esteeming it an honor to be fellow-workers with G-od, we should 
see, also, how He can do without us. The following anecdote may help 
us to see the value of a common-sense view of the activity of God, and 
may farther help us to the enjoyment of that rest spoken of in page 49. 

When Bulstrode Whitelock was embarking as Cromwell's envoy to 
Sweden, in 1653, he was much disturbed in mind as he rested in Harwich 
on the preceding night, which was very stormy, while he reflected on the 



54 TRUST. 

having all resources at His command, yea, as being Him- 
self the one and only resource needed ; but not as occupy- 
ing an active position with those who are actually in the 
fight ; hence they look at what they can do, and how long 
they can hold out, and what graces they have, wherewith 
to contend ; but forget to look for positive and decided ac- 
tion from the One who is on their side. Let us*avoid this 
mistake ; let us say, ■" God will work;" let us expect Him 
to work, and He assuredly will. 

Nor must we forget the idea of co-operation which is 
presented to us here. At first sight, it may seem presump- 
tuous to speak of co-operation with God ; but the idea is a 
scriptural one, as we shall see by referring to 1 Cor. iii, 9. 
" For we are laborers together with God." The Lord's 
people are workers together with Him, and He is a worker 
together with them ; they are both in action, and for the 
same cause. 

There is in this fact, something very comforting for our 
souls. When we are called upon to work, God will work 
also. He never by circumstances calls any man, either to 

distracted state of the nation. It happened that a confidential servant 
slept in an adjacent bed, who, finding that his master could not sleep, at 
length said: — "Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask you a question?" 

" Certainly." 

" Pray, sir, do not you think that God governed the world very well 
before you came into it?" 

" Undoubtedly." 

11 And pray, sir, do not you think that He will govern it quite as well, 
when you are gone out of it ?" 

" Certainly." 

" Then, sir, pray excuse me, but do not you think you may trust Him 
to-govern it quite as well as long as you live ?" 

To this question Whitelock had nothing to reply ; but, turning about 
soon fell fast asleep, till he was summoned to embark. 



TRUST. 55 

resist evil, or to do good, but that He Himself is willing to 
work together with him. How much readier should we be 
to enter upon conflict with evil, or to undertake difficult 
tasks for God. if only we could realize this ! The sense of 
weakness would no longer oppress us ; the consciousness of 
disproportion to our icork would never daunt us ; we 
should feel that God was with us, and that His present 
energy pervaded every effort made in humility and faith. 
Do we not too often fix our thoughts upon what ice our- 
selves are doing, upon how ice are resisting evil, or accom- 
plishing good : do we not practically say, "Am I equal to 
the task imposed upon me ?" Let us remember, that God 
will work too ; that His strength will be in all our efforts ; 
that He will work together with us. It may be that man 
will not recognize this ; that Satan, taking advantage of 
our weak natures, will try to seduce us into spiritual pride, 
saying. " You have done this or that;" but let us recog- 
nize God working in us, and we shall thus, at one and the 
same time, possess humility and strength. The working 
of God, and the recognition of God, are beautifully brought 
before us in Isaiah xli, 18, &c. "For I the Lord thy God 
Will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, 1 
will help thee. Fear not. thou worm Jacob, and ye men 
of Israel : / will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Re- 
deemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make 
thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth : thou 
shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and sbalt 
make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the 
wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scat- 
ter them : and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt 
glory in the Holy One of Israel." 

Let us take care, also, that as God is graciously pleased 



56 TRUST. 

to be on our side, and to co-operate with us, so also we be 
ready to be on His side, and to co-operate with Him. It 
is as true, that in many points He permits us to co-operate 
with him, as that he is graciously pleased to co-operate with 
us. It is through man that He carries out many of His 
greatest designs upon the earth. Some of these are brought 
to pass through the instrumentality of those who hate Him; 
and the wrath of man is made to praise Him ; but many 
through the active work of His own people. The man of 
God should be ready to co-operate with Him at His first 
invitation or command ; he should not hang back as even 
Moses did, who would have excused himself by his un- 
readiness of speech ; or as Jonah did, who would even flee 
from the presence of the Lord ; or as Barak did, who lost 
the honor which might have been his portion, when Sisera 
was sold into the hand of a woman. So long as we look at 
ourselves, our feebleness will make us decline the respon- 
sibility ; but the consciousness that we are but instruments 
in the hand of God, should make us willing to be wrought 
with by Him. The case of David is full of teaching for us 
in this. When he went forth to fight Goliath, he was 
surely in himself wholly disproportioned to the task ; his 
limbs were not as strong as the giant's ; his height was not 
so great ; his practice in warfare was absolutely nothing ; 
true, he had contended with the terrible spring of the lion, 
and with the crushing embrace of the bear ; but these were 
wholly different from conflict with a man, trained to war 
from his youth. But despite all this, he went out on the 
Lord's side ; he knew that he was a worker together with 
God ; and he accepted the challenge of the Philistine, as of 
one w T ho had defied the armies of the living God — as of one 
whom he would meet in the name of God. It was God, 



TRUST. 57 

assuredly, who was engaged in that great conflict ; it was 
His eye that marked the place in the giant's forehead, 
where the fatal missile was to sink ; it was His influence 
that guicled it through the air, so that its flight was true 
for the destined spot ; it was His might that energized the 
arm of David, as he slung forth the smooth stone upon its 
errand of death. Let the example of this great warrior of 
God not be lost on us : if we feel that the Lord calls on us 
to work, we may rest assured, that it is not to do so alone ; 
the strength will be not in the instrument itself, but in the 
way it is used. 

These are some of the practical thoughts resulting from 
the truth, that God is on His people's side. 

1. I never can be left alone, in anything I am called 
upon to do for God. 

2. Nor can I be ever left alone, in any resistance which 
I have to offer for God.^ 

* Luther was enabled, by the power of simple faith, to realize a peace 
which was not possessed by his fellow laborer Melancthon. The latter 
seemed overwhelmed at the circumstances in which he was placed. He 
writes to Luther, " My dwelling is in perpetual tears. My consternation 
is indescribable. my father ! I do not wish my words to exaggerate 
my sorrows ; but without your consolations it is impossible for me here 
to enjoy the least peace." Luther traces Melancthon's trouble to a want 
of simplicity in faith. " As for Melancthon, it is his philosophy that 
tortures him, and nothing else, for our cause is in the very hands of Him 
who can say, with unspeakable dignity, 'No one shall pluck it out of my 
hands.' I would not have it in our hands, and it would not be desirable 
that it were so. I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost 
them all, but whatever I have been able to place in God's, I still 
possess." 

On learning that Melancthon's anguish still continued, Luther wrote to 
him ; and these are words that should be preserved : — " Grace and peace 
in Christ ! in Christ, I say, and not in the world, Amen. I hate, with 
exceeding hatred, those extreme cares which consume you. If the cause 



58 TRUST. 

3. I must have on my side the full benefit of the 
heavenly alliance, in God's thought, His resources, His 
energy. 

4. How wonderful the condescension, and the love, which 
makes the great God stoop to alliance with man ! 

5. In this I have the pledge of victory. 

6. In all courses of action we should seek the assurance 
that God is on our side. 

7. The Lord's being on my side, will be sure to develop 
itself practically. 

Some practical results which should follow : — 

1. The falling away of human friends, and the drying 
up of human resources, should not stop me in my spiritual 
warfare. 

2. I ought to bring as vividly before my mind as I can, 
the alliance with God, and realize it as a matter of fact ; 
so as to make it confront all the strength that is against 
me, and compensate for all desertions from me, and weak- 
ness in me. 

3. In my personal conflicts, I should feel that I do not 
stand alone ; and in active service, that I do not go forth 
alone. 

4. This one fact, of "The Lord being on my side," 
should in my estimation far overbalance all the confederacies 
and alliances against me ; when I see them, I should 
destroy their terrifying influence by a consideration of this. 
In Psalm lxxxiii, we have brought before us the strong 

is unjust, abandon it ; if the cause is just, why should we belie the 
promises of Him who commanded us to sleep without fear? Can the 
devil do more than kill us ? Christ will not be wanting to the work of 
justice and of truth* He lives; He reigns; what fear, then, can we 
have," &c. 



T R UST, 59 

confederacies of the enemy. " They have taken crafty 
counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hid- 
den ones. They have said, i Come and let us cut them off 
from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no 
more in remembrance.' For they have consulted together 
with one consent, they are confederate against Thee. The 
tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and 
the Hagarenes ; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek ; the 
Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre ; Assur also is 
joined with them, they have holpen the children of Lot.'" 7 
Such was the confederacy, it was strong both in men and 
money ; but the Psalmist looks to his God to act against 
them — he says, " 0, my God, make them as the stubble 
before the wind." And in calling upon God thus to break 
up the confederacy, and destroy those engaged in it, he 
reminds Him of former mighty acts. " Do unto them as 
unto the Midianites ; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook 
of Kishon ; which perished at Endor, they became as dung 
from the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb : 
yea, all their princes as Zeba and Zahnunna." 

The Lord shews us, in Isa. vii, how easily He can deal 
with a confederacy. Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, 
the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, go up toward Jerusa- 
lem to war against it, but cannot prevail against it. " And 
it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate 
with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart 
of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved by the 
wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to 
meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of 
the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's 
field. And say unto him, Take heed and be quiet : fear 
not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these 



60 TRUST. 

smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, 
and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, 
and the son of Remaliah had taken evil counsel against 
thee, saying, ' Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and 
let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the 
midst of it, even the son of Tabeal :' thus saith the Lord 
God," — mark, dear reader, how He will deal with the con- 
federacy — " It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. 
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Da- 
mascus is Rezin, and within three score and five years shall 
Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people." 

Nehemiah was tried by the existence of a confederacy 
against him, when he undertook the rebuilding of the walls 
of Jerusalem, but he knew where to go for help. " It came 
to pass that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, 
and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls 
of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to 
be stopped, then they were very wroth. And conspired all 
of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and 
to hinder us. Nevertheless we made our prayer unto God, 
and set a watch against them day and night because of 
them." The conspiracy of Joseph's brethren against him 
ended in his being promoted so high as to be only second to 
Pharoah upon his throne. 

It may be well to add also a few words upon the cir- 
cumstances under which this trust is to be exercised. 
A good deal has already been said incidentally on this 
point ; it may, however, be helpful to gather these cir- 
cumstances together, and look at them by themselves. 

In Psalm iii, 6, and also cxviii, 6, the times of danger 
from man are prominently alluded to. "I will not be 
afraid," said the Psalmist, " of ten thousands of the peo- 



TRUST. 61 

pie, that have set themselves against me round about ;" 
and again, in Psalm cxviii, 6. he says. " The Lord is on 
my side, I will not fear what man can do unto me." 

Here we have times of danger from men brought prom- 
inently before our notice, and the Psalmist's determination 
to trust God, no matter how imminent the danger might 
be. Now we must not u?ider-v&ie, even as we should not 
over-rate these dangers from men. When our fellow-men 
are opposed to us, and threaten us with evil, and proceed 
to active opposition, we have great need of Trust in God. 
These visible dangers are likely to exercise a powerful in- 
fluence upon such frail creatures as we are ; they press us 
closely; they assume a distinctness, and vividness, and 
reality, which are calculated to daunt the heart ; we feel 
that we have to contend with evil in its activity. When 
we can plainly see that men are working evil against us, 
then evil seems to have embodied itself against us ; we 
seem to feel that it now has means of working, that it will 
not remain idle, that we are within its reach; it soon makes 
itself felt. 

At times the struggling believer has to meet with oppo- 
sition, and the probability of hurt from the very men who 
should aid and befriend him; he is obliged to say, "My 
foes are those of my own household,' 7 (see Matt, x, 38.) 
Ci Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which 
did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me/ 1 
(Psalm xli, 9.) As in the case of David, a wayward child 
may be the instrument of evil : as in Joseph's, it may be 
one's brethren : as in Job's, it may be one's wife ; and dan- 
ger is peculiarly appalling when it comes upon us from 
those, who from their nearness to us know all the avenues 



62 TRUST. 

of our heart, all our circumstances and habits in life, where 
and how we can most easily be hurt. 

When evil assumes this present, and this vivid form, the 
best way to meet it is by making our Trust do the same. 
We must oppose a vivid sight of God, to a vivid sight of 
man. And if we do this aright our fear will soon subside ; 
we shall say with the Psalmist, u I will not fear what man 
can do unto me." When Goliath came forth, there was a 
special presentation of man, but David met it with faith ; 
when the eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the 
grove, confronted Elijah on Carmel, there was a special 
presentation of man, but Elijah also met them in the power 
of faith ; when the armies of Sennacherib came round about 
Jerusalem, (Isaiah xxxvi,) and that proud monarch's blas- 
phemous letter was delivered to Hezekiah, there was also a 
special presentation of man, but the king of Judah meets it 
with faith, which enables him to oppose to it a special pre- 
sentation of God ; he owns Sennacherib's might, and re- 
minds God that it is He he is reproaching, (verses 17 and 
20,) " Incline Thine ear, Lord, and hear ; open Thine 
eyes, Lord, and see : and hear all the words of Sennache- 
rib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. * * 
Now therefore, Lord our God, save us from bis hand, 
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art 
the Lord, even Thou only." 

No doubt there is much which man can do, to hurt and 
injure us, so far as this world is concerned. Our Lord 
Himself tells us this in Luke xii, 4, " And I say unto you, 
my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body :" — 
men can at times proceed even to the last extremity ; and 
if to that, then to other assaults calculated in themselves to 
terrify or annoy. Our Lord tells us this in Luke xxi, 12, 



TRUST. 63 

" They shall lay their hands on you and persecute you ; 
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, 
bringing you before kings and rulers for my name's sake." 
See what a description St. Paul gives us of his sufferings 
in 2 Cor. xi, 23, &c. Amongst other things he tells us 
that he had ' ; stripes above measure," that he was often in 
prisons, and in deaths ; five times he received forty stripes 
save one, thrice was he beaten with rods, once was he 
stoned ;" he knew what it was to experience " perils from 
robbers and from his own countrymen, perils from the 
heathen, and perils from false brethren." Our enemies 
can break in upon, and disturb the peace of our home ; 
they can hurt our bodies and our means of livelihood ; they 
can vex and thwart us in many w T ays. Even if the enemy 
be not active in his opposition, he can do us harm never- 
theless, by looking coldly upon us, by engendering sus- 
picion against us, by withdrawing from us some wonted 
countenance and support ; all these are serious things, 
when we are perhaps placed, to all human appearance, in 
a position of dependence upon the very persons who treat 
us thus. May we have grace to meet all this by simple, 
vivid trust, by seeing God to be for us with the same dis- 
tinctness that we see man to be against us ! 

Let us consider also, the time of helplessness of the 
believer. We can imagine no more helpless condition than 
that of sleep. And what the Psalmist says is this, " I 
will both lay me down in peace, and sleep, for Thou, Lord, 
only makest me dwell in safety." Helplessness is one of 
the great occasions for determined trust. 

If we examine the records of Holy Scripture, and the 
lives of God's people as detailed therein, we shall find the 
most eminent saints placed from time to time in positions 



64 TRUST. 

of helplessness. What could be more helpless, as we have 
just seen, than Jacob's position when he went forth to 
meet Esau? or than Joseph's, when he lay in Potiphar's 
prison ; or than Jeremiah's, when he was in the bottom of 
the pit ; or than Elijah's, when he stood alone in confront- 
ing the prophets of Baal ; or than David's, when the people 
spake of stoning him ; and again, when Shimei cursed him 
and threw dust at him ; or than Daniel's, when he was 
shut up in the lion's den ; or than the three children's, 
when they were thrown down into the burning fiery fur- 
nace ; or than the disciples', when they were sent forth, 
staff in hand, as sheep amongst wolves ? 

That we should from time to time find ourselves in a 
helpless position is no new thing: this is no mere fortuitous 
falling together of circumstances, but a permitted arrange- 
ment of God ; He will teach us the perfection of His 
strength, in the perfection of our weakness. We may rest 
assured, that we are no less called upon to realize our own 
intrinsic helplessness, than to put forth whatever powers 
and faculties have been bestowed upon us by God ; we 
have to be taught our utter helplessness, apart from God, 
as well as what we should do in the power of God. The 
apostle found this sense of personal weakness no bar to his 
being strong for the Lord ; he did not find it bring him into 
such sad circumstances, as would be the natural conse- 
quences of such weakness; he said, "When I am weak, 
then am- 1 strong." God had said to him, " My strength 
is made perfect in weakness," and he had realized the truth 
of that. What we, however, desire to attain to, is the be- 
ing able to say, "/can do this, /can do that ;" we want 
the personal comfortable feeling that we are individually 
equal to this or that ; and there is very often a temptation 



TRUST. 65 

hidden in this ; for Satan, when once he finds a man work- 
ing in any feeling of mere personal spiritual strength, soon 
tries to make him work in a feeling of personal strength 
which is natural, and not spiritual at all. St. Paul could 
say, " I can do all things through Christ which strength- 
ened me;" but oh ! that strengthening of Christ was every- 
thing ; that was what he had ever present before his mind. 
The child of God, then, must not be surprised, if from 
time to time he finds himself in a position of personal help- 
lessness. At times he may come into this position in his 
worldly, and at times, in his spiritual circumstances ; but 
whenever he comes into them the part of faith is to trust 
unreservedly.'*' Let us learn from the words of our great 
Teacher Himself, in Psalm xxii, 11, 19, " Be not far from 

* The case of Jacob is a veiy instructive one in this respect. (Gen. 
xxxii, 6.) " His messengers returned, saying, ' We came to thy brother 
Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed." And no wonder ! his 
two bands were helpless women and children, with cattle, and in all 
probability unarmed servants, and Esau had four hundred men. These two 
bands of which he speaks in verse 10, were blessings given, but they 
were blessings which he had no power of himself to keep ; and this les- 
son he had to learn now. God must not only be the one to give bless- 
ing, but also the one to preserve it ; the four hundred men would soon 
have made havoc of the two bands. Under these circumstances Jacob 
acknowledges his fears ; he says, " Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the 
hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau ; for I fear him, lest he will 
come and smite me, and the mother with the children ;" but he falls back 
also in trust upon the old promises of God ; he calls Him the God of his 
father Abraham, and the God of his father Isaac, and reminds him, more- 
over, of His relationship to himself as a promiser of good ; he calls Him 
" The Lord which said unto him, ' Return unto thy country, and to thy 
kindred, and I will deal with thee.' And Thou saidst, ' I will surely do 
thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be 
n\imbered for multitude.' " Have we the promises of God as ours ; can we 
plead them ? if so, we need not fear man, he cannot meddle with them. 



66 TRUST. 

me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. But be 
not Thou far from me, Lord, my strength, haste Thee 
to help me." 

The recognition of this resting upon God, met with a 
notable blessing in the case of Asa. (2 Chr. xiv, 9-15.) 
"And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian 
with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred 
chariots ; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out 
against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley 
of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the Lord 
his God, and said, c Lord, it is nothing with Thee to 
help, whether Avith many, or with them that have no 
power ; help us, Lord our God ; for we rest on Thee, and 
in Thy name we go against this multitude. Lord, thou 
art our God ; let not man prevail against Thee.' So the 
Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah ; 
and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that 
were with him pursued them unto Gerar r and the Ethio- 
pians were overthrown, that they could not recover them- 
selves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before 
His host ; and they carried away very much spoil. And 
they smote all the cities round about Gerar ; for the fear 
of the Lord came upon them ; and they spoiled all the 
cities ; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They 
smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and 
camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem." 

And in that of Hezekiah. (Isa. xxxvii, 14-38.) " And 
Hezekiah received the letter from the hands of the mes- 
sengers, and read it ; and Hezekiah went up unto the house 
of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah 
prayed unto the Lord, saying, * Lord of hosts, God of Is- 
rael that dwelleth between the cherubims, Thou art the God, 



TRUST. 67 

even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth : Thou hast 
made heaven and earth. Incline Thine ear, Lord, and 
hear ; open Thine ejes, Lord, and see ; and hear all the 
words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the liv- 
ing God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have 
laid waste all the nations and their countries, and have 
cast their gods into the fire : for they were no gods, but 
the work of men's, hands, wood and stone : therefore they 
have destroyed them. Now therefore, Lord our God, 
save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth 
may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only. 7 
* ^ =* Because thy rage against Me, and thy tumult, 
is come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook^ 
in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee 
back by the way by which thou earnest. * ^ * There- 
fore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, 
'He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, 
nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. 
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and 
shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will 
defend this city, to save it for Mine own sake, and for my 
servant David's sake.' Then the angel of the Lord went 
forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred 
and fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early 

* ;> My hook in thy nose!" What an expressive phrase is this. A 
bull with a hook in its nose can be led even by a little child. The 
ferocity of the animal is untamed, his might and strength remain as they 
were before, but he is powerless, the least plunge or struggle is re- 
strained by the pain of the hook or ring. Thus the Lord often controls 
wicked men ; He leaves them their ferocity of nature, but so puts them 
under restraint, and that, by apparently unimportant means, that they 
cannot hurt his people. "We must not so much look for the changing of 
the bull's nature, as for the putting the hook in his nose. 



68 TRUST. 

in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So 
Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and re- 
turned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass as he 
was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that 
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the 
sword ; and they escaped into the land of Armenia : and 
Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead." 

Thus was it blessed in them, assuredly it will be also 
blessed in us. 

Now we come to the period when natural fear comes 
on us. " What time I am afraid," (says the Psalmist in 
Psalm lvi, 3,) "I will trust in Thee." 

There are some persons in the world who seem destitute 
of fear ; they have a natural courage which defies pain, 
and almost death itself. Such persons are, however, com- 
paratively few; and even they have their weak points, 
through which fear will occasionally make its way. We 
are most of us, as we know painfully from experience, sub- 
ject to natural fear from various causes. Some are afraid 
of pain. When John Howe's son, a physician, was lancing 
his leg, Howe enquired what he was doing ? and observed 
" I am not afraid of dying, but I am of pain." The late 
Sir Robert Peel was engaged with Stephenson the great 
engineer and others, in making some observations on blood 
under the microscope. Each furnished some of his blood 
from a scratch, and at length Stephenson asked for some of 
Sir Robert's to see what the blood of a politician was like. 
Sir Robert agreed to furnish it, but shrank several times 
with such manifest repugnance from the necessary scratch 
or puncture, that at last the experiment was abandoned, so 
far as he was concerned. Some are all their life long sub- 
ject to the fear of death ; some are full of nervous dread, 



TRUST. 69 

lest circumstances should go wrong ; some have certain 
persons as the chief object of their fear ; and they never 
come into contact with them, without having their fears 
excited. Inevitable pain makes some shrink ; and the mere 
prospect of it has a terrifying effect upon others. Now we 
may not be able to prevent fear from thus affecting us ; this 
fear may be sinless, although it be an infirmity, and that, 
one of a distressing kind. There is, however, often more 
or less sin mixed with human fear, because it often arises, 
more or less, from want of Trust. 

We have many instances in Holy Scripture, of the Lord's 
people being put into great fear. When Abram was going 
down into Egypt he was afraid, and that, even though he 
was surrounded with the promises of God ; he says to his 
wife, "Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to 
look upon ; therefore it shall come to pass, when the 
Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, c This is his 
wife ,' and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 
Say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that it may be 
well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because 
of thee." Gen. xii, 11, &c. When Jacob went to meet 
Esau, he was " greatly afraid, and distressed." Gen. xxxii, 
7. We have the terrible effects of a night vision upon 
Eliphaz, described in Job iv : "In thoughts from visions 
of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon man, fear came 
upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake ; 
then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh 
stood up." David also, who was pre-eminent for valor, by 
whose mighty arm the giant had fallen, was thus distressed 
by his own people, when the Amalekites had invaded Ziklag, 
and taken away captive the wives, and daughters, and sons 
of his men; "then David was greatly distressed, for the 



70 TRUST. 

people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the 
people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his 
daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his 
God." 1 Sam. xxx, 6. Elijah as we have already seen, 
was put in fear by Jezebel, as we read in 1 Kings xix, and 
that after an extraordinary display of courage, " the stand- 
ing alone against eight hundred and fifty men !" 

Now w r hen natural fear comes upon us, our best remedy 
for it will surely be, simple trust in God. This fear may 
not be a specific act of unbelief; it may be only the natural 
consequent of the weakness, or nervousness, of our nature ; 
but the remedy for it is simple trust in God. And let us 
beware of the temptation of Satan, which would say to us, 
"God has nothing to do with fear of this kind; He will 
make no allowances for it ; He will feel no sympathy for 
the man that is afflicted with it ; He looks down upon it as 
weakness ; if this fear were a spiritual matter, He would 
encourage you, and help you out of it, but He cannot be 
expected to condescend to every petty weakness of your 
nature. Such thoughts as these are unjust indeed toward 
God ; we are told that " He knoweth whereof we are made; 7 ' 
we know that all things lie open before His eyes, and how- 
ever unimportant or unfounded our fears may ideally be, 
He knows that they are of real importance to us ; and He 
acts, not only with reference to His own greatness, but also 
with reference to our weakness. When Peter, Matt, xiv, 
30, "saw the wind boisterous, he w r as afraid and beginning 
to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me ;" and Jesus did not 
turn a deaf ear to his distress — "Immediately Jesus 
stretched forth His hand, and caught him and said unto 
him, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" 
Everything connected with a child of God, whether it be- 






TRUST. 71 

long to his body or his soul, to his temporal or eternal con- 
cerns, interests the Most High. "Like as a father pitieth 
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." 
Psalm ciii, 13. And in this respect, God assuredly deals 
with His people as a parent does with a child. The child 
may be alarmed at but a very little thing : perhaps at 
nothing more than the sight of a strange face, or the sound 
of an insect, or the falling darkness of the night ; there is 
nothing in all this to be really frightened at, the father 
well knows ; but he tenderly remembers the weakness and 
the ignorance of the child ; he sees that his child is suffering 
real fear, and therefore he acts accordingly ; perhaps point- 
ing out to the little one his error, but certainly soothing 
him in his fright, and whiling away his sorrow. 

When natural fear comes upon us, let us remember this. 
When we wince in the body, may grace be given to us to 
commit the body, and its fears, to God ; let us not shrink 
from doing so, under the impression that it is beneath Him 
to attend to us ; He will be gracious to us in the matter of 
our fears, as well a.s in that of our wants. Nehemiah com- 
mitted all to God, when men would have put him in fear ; 
as we read in chapter vi, 9 — 14. And long before that, 
when the pressure of direst necessity was upon the Israel- 
ites, Moses said unto them, " Fear ye not, stand still and 
see the salvation of the Lord." Exod. xiv, 13. With us, 
let the time of natural fear be also the time of trust ; let 
us say with the Psalmist : " What time I am afraid, I will 
trust in Thee/' Psalm lvi, 3 and it shall come to pass that 
the " Lord will give thee rest from thy sorrow and thy fear, 
and from the hard bondage wherewith thou wast made to 
serve," and thou shalt say with the Psalmist, "I sought 



72 TRUST. 

the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my 
fears." Psalm xxxiv, 4. 

And before we leave this branch of our subject, let us for 
a moment recall to mind the human nature of our Lord. 
The Saviour's body was like ours, subject to pain and 
suffering of every kind. He had precisely the same natural 
views of pain that we have ; the same shvinkings from it ; 
the actual feelings of human nature concerning it ; He did 
not consider pain an evil, to be philosophically descanted 
upon, or stocially endured ; He knew it to be a portion of 
the curse ; and forasmuch as all the effects of the curse 
must fall upon Him, pain, without any extraordinary miti- 
gation, was His lot. The prospect of suffering was as ter- 
rible to the Saviour in His flesh, as it is to us in ours ; for 
His flesh was the same as ours. Every nerve in His holy 
body had quick susceptibility ; every human instinct shrank 
back from the pressure of physical suffering. He was very 
man ; and though now in a glorified body, He is very man 
still, at God's right hand. 

Let us not forget that Christ still possesses human sym- 
pathies. He remembers well His own human feelings with 
respect to pain ; how His human nature shrank back from 
the mental anguish of Grethsemane, and the bodily torture 
of the cross ; all these things are before Him ; and He 
knows that His people are even as He was ; that they feel 
as He did ; therefore He can sympathize with them, and 
send them help according to their need. If an angel w r ere 
sent from heaven to strengthen Him, His people shall not 
be left destitute of such help as they require ; He will deal 
with them, in their sufferings, in the remembrance of His 
own. When what w T e terribly feared is actually upon us ; 
when we say with the Psalmist, in Psalm lxix, " The 



TRUST. 73 

waters are come in unto ray soul. I sink in deep mire where 
there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the 
floods overflow me.'" we shall not be left alone, if only we 
have grace to trust. 

The Psalmist declares that he will thus call upon God, 
when the calamity is actually upon him. " In the day of 
my trouble I will call upon Thee, for Thou wilt answer me/' 
Psalm lxxxvi, 7. An affecting picture of this day of trouble 
we have given to us in Psalm cxvi, 3, &c. " The sorrows 
of death compassed me. and the pains of hell gat hold upon 
me : I found trouble and sorrow ; then called I upon the 
name of the Lord. Lord. I beseech Thee deliver my 
soul." Then what came to pass? "Gracious (says the 
Psalmist) is the Lord, and righteous, yea. our God is mer- 
ciful. The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought 
low, and He helped me. Return unto thy rest. my 
soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee : for 
Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from 
tears, and my feet from falling." 

If we were able thus to trust in God, and to stay our- 
selves upon Him. when the sufferings of pain were actually 
upon us, we should be able to bear them far better than we 
have perhaps ever hitherto done. 

Thus the martyrs seem to have done, and very wonder- 
ful are the histories of their deaths. When we consider 
their greater pains, and their patience in the midst of them, 
may we, in our lesser pains, bear all as trusting in a God 
whose immediate presence we are able to realize and feel. 
We are told that a young man named Jones, the son of a 
Welsh Knight, came to Bishop Farrar a few days before 
he suffered, and lamented the painfulness of the death pre- 
pared for him. The Bishop, in faith, relying upon the 

4 



74 TRUST. 

extraordinary support vouchsafed to those who were thus 
publicly called to seal their testimony with their blood, told 
the youth to mark him while suffering that painful death, 
and if he saw him once stir, then to give no credit to the 
doctrines he had preached. Foxe adds, " And as he said, 
so he right well performed the same ; for so patiently he 
stood, that he never moved, but even as he stood holding 
up his stumps, so still he continued, till one Richard Gra- 
vell, with a staff, dashed him upon the head, and struck 
him down." When the fire was kindled about Dr. Taylor, 
he held up his hands, and said, " Merciful Father of 
heaven, for Jesus Christ, my Saviour's sake, receive my 
soul into Thy hands." He stood still in the midst of the 
flames, without crying or moving, his hands folded to- 
gether, till Soyce struck him down with a halbert. The 
particulars of Hooper's death, as given by Foxe, are too 
shocking to be given here at length ; but he endured them 
all in the strength of God. When three irons were brought 
for the purpose of fastening him to the stake, he said, 
" Trouble not yourselves; I doubt not God will give 
strength sufficient to abide the fire, without these bands ; 
notwithstanding, suspecting the weakness of the flesh, al- 
though I have assured confidence in God's strength, do as 
ye think good." In the fire, Hooper stood praying, u 
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me, and receive my 
soul." And when the fire was spent, he wiped his eyes 
with his hands, and mildly but earnestly entreated that 
more fire might be brought. " After suffering inexpress- 
ible torments for three quarters of an hour, the martyr, 
bowing forwards, yielded up the spirit, dying as quietly as 
a child in his bed." He was indeed strengthened, in 
answer to his prayer, the concluding words of which were 



TRUST. 75 

these, "And well seest Thou, my Lord and God, what 
terrible pains and cruel torments be prepared for Thy 
creature, such, Lord, as, without Thy strength, none is 
able to bear, or patiently to endure. But all things that 
are impossible with man are possible with Thee. There- 
fore strengthen me of Thy goodness, that when in the fire 
I break not the rules of patience ; or else assuage the terror 
of the pains, as shall seem most to Thy glory." When 
the fire was kindled upon the martyr Waid, he was heard 
to exclaim, " Lord Jesus, receive my soul." And he 
continued to do so without impatience, standing still, and 
holding up his hands, clasped together, above his head, as 
if engaged in prayer, remaining in this attitude, " even 
when he was dead, and altogether roasted, as though they 
had been stayed up with a prop under them." The ac- 
count of Latimer at the stake shews us how the bowed 
down frame can be strengthened for its terrible conflict. 
We are told that " his mortal fr am becoming invigorated 
at the prospect of the near approach of his journey's end, he 
no longer appeared a withered, crooked old man, his body 
crazed and bending under the weight of years, but he stood 
upright, as comely a Father as one would desire to behold. " 
The case of Thomas Hawkes, who suffered martyrdom at 
Coggeshall, on June 13th, a.d. 1555, shews us how God 
can enable His people to bear pain, especially for Him. 
Shortly before his death, some of his friends, expecting 
that they should be called to bear a similar testimony to 
the truth, requested that if the pain of burning were tol- 
erable, so that it could be endured with patience, he would 
give them a sign by lifting up his hands towards heaven. 
The trying hour arrived, the martyr was fastened to the 
stake, and the fire was kindled. His friends anxiously 



76 TRUST. 

watched for the appointed sign. A long time passed, his 
skin was shrivelled up by the flames, and his speech taken 
away, so that all thought he was gone, when suddenly, 
and contrary to all expectation, he raised up his hands, 
" burning with a light fire, and with great rejoicing, as it 
seemed," struck them together three times. At this sign 
of his steadfastness in the faith, the people shouted with 
joy, especially his friends. The martyr then sunk down 
and expired. 

And yet how hard the struggle may be in itself we see 
from the cases of some other martyrs. As Rawlins White 
was led to the stake, he saw his wife and children stand 
weeping. The sight of those who were near and dear to 
him moved him. u Ah, flesh !" exclaimed he, smiting his 
breast, " wouldst thou hinder me, wouldst thou fain prevail ? 
By God's grace, thou shalt not have the victory." While 
the smith was fastening him to the stake, he said, ci I pray 
you. good friend, knock in the chain fast, for it may be the 
flesh will strive mightily ; but God, of Thy great mercy, 
give me strength and patience." He also spoke to a person 
named Dane, who related these particulars, saying that he 
felt a great struggle between the flesh and the spirit, and 
entreated, if he began to "waver, he would hold up his finger, 
u and then," said he, "I trust I shall remember ^myself." 
The conflict between the spirit and the flesh are graphically 
portrayed in the case of George Tankerfield, who was 
burned at St. Alban's, on August 25th, a.d. 1555. " Being 
taken to an inn, many persons came to see him, some to 
dispute with and revile him, while others praised God for his 
constancy. Sitting down before a fire, he pulled off" his 
shoes and hose, and stretched his leg out to the flame, but 
quickly withdrew it on feeling the pain. He then shewed 



TRUST. 77 

to those who stood by, how the flesh persuaded him one 
way, and the spirit another. "The flesh said, '0 fool, 
wilt thou burn and needest not ?' The spirit saith, l Be 
not afraid, for this is nothing, compared with eternal fire. 7 
The flesh saith, ' Do not leave the company of thy friends 
and acquaintance, which love thee ; and will let thee want 
nothing.' The spirit saith, ' The company of Jesus Christ, 
and His glorious presence, doth exceed all earthly friends.' 
The flesh saith, 'Do not shorten thy time, for if thou wilt, 
thou mayest live much longer/ The spirit saith, ' This life 
is nothing compared with the life in heaven, which lasteth 
for ever/ " &c. 

What a strength, what a support would it be, if, while 
enduring pain, we could fix our mind wholly upon God, in 
Christ ; if we spake to Him ; if we said some such short 
sentences as these: — u Lord, help me to bear this, as 
one of Thy children should/' " Lord, I would glorify 
Thee in this pain/' " Lord, undergird me, that I may 
be able to endure/' " my Father, not my will, but 
Thine be done/' " Jesus, I would bear it as unto Thee, 
who didst bear such pain for me." And while thus talking 
to God. much, perhaps of the bitterness of the pain will be 
past; its worst spasms will, perhaps, be tided over; and we 
shall have the inestimable pleasure of feeling, that we have 
glorified God in the time of our hardest trial ; that, like the 
three children, we have glorified Him in the fires, and 
walked in the glowing furnace, even with the Son of man 
Himself. 

Even so, Lord, enable us to do this ! Whenever our 
trial time comes on — when we have to endure — when the 
hour of suffering is come — be thou specially at hand, and 
give Thy special help ! 



78 TRUST. 

We now conclude this portion of our subject. May we 
have grace to turn it to practical account. The daily cir- 
cumstances of life will afford us opportunities enough of 
glorifying God in Trust, without our waiting for any ex- 
traordinary calls upon our faith. Let us remember that 
the extraordinary circumstances of life are but few ; that 
much of life may slip past without their occurrence ; and 
that if we be not faithful and trusting in that which is little, 
we are not likely to be so in that which is great. The same 
spirit which animates the martyr at the stake, enabling 
him to glorify God amid the fires, may be evinced in 
the way in which a little pain is endured, or reproach is 
borne ; the same calm Trust which enables the believer to 
rest peacefully on God, in the little affairs of daily life, is 
nothing but the exercise, within a narrow circle, of a grace, 
which, if called upon to move in a wider sphere, would keep 
the heart in peace, amid the overturning of dynasties, and 
the wreck of thrones. Let our trust be reared in the hum- 
ble nursery of our own daily experience, with its ever 
recurring little wants, and trials, and sorrows ; and then, 
when need be, it will come forth, to do such great things as 
are required of it; even as Moses came forth from the 
wilderness to deliver a whole nation from bondage ; and 
David came from his solitary sheep-watching to slay the 
giant, who had defied the armies of the living God. 






iuistrg atrfcr C^timflttg, 



Psalm ix, 1. " I will sheio forVi Thy marvellous works." 

Psalm xxii, 22. " igviU declare TJiy name unto my brethren." 

Psalm li, 13. " Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners 

shall be converted unto Thee." 

Psalm lxxxix, 1. " With my mouth will I make known Thy faithful' 

ness to all generations." 

Psalm cxlv, 5. u I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty." 



SsW 



me "$ mm" ti *$Xmmnj mft %tfflmmy. 

E have, in these verses, the determinations of the 
1 y man of God, with reference to Ministry and 
Testimony. The subject of Ministry and Testi- 
mony is one well worth our consideration in the 
present day : for to the great loss of the church at large, 
and also of individual believers, it is but little recognised. 

The particulars to which the reader's attention is solicited 
axe these : — the fact that c the Lord's people are called to 
Ministry and Testimony ;' also, that ' this is not generally 
recognised in the present day ;' further, i the present aspect 
of the church of God in this particular;' and 'the loss 
which is thus entailed upon the world, upon the church, 
and upon individual believers. 7 

There are some who may, perhaps, meet us at the very 
outset with a denial of their being called to exercise any 
ministry, to give any testimony in the world for God. 
They have learned the fundamental principles of the 
Christian faith ; they have had some knowledge of the 
sinfulness of their own hearts ; they believe that the blood 
of Jesus Christ alone can cleanse them from their sin ; and 
being sound in faith, they do not see that they are called 
upon to be active in life. It may be that such persons are 
of a contemplative turn of mind ; or still more probably, 
naturally of an inactive disposition ; but from whatever 

4* 



82 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

cause, so it is, that the world is little the better for their 
Christianity; and assuredly we might say to them, "We 
have not so learned Christ." 

Selfishness and sloth are, to the eyes of the great and 
heart-searching God, too plainly marked blemishes of His 
church, and people upon earth.. It is true, there never 
was more noise made in the world about religion, than 
there is now ; never was there a time, when men could talk 
louder about their respective views; or pronounce more 
distinctly the shibboleths of their respective parties ; and 
never was there a time when there seemed more outward 
activity in schools, reformatories, charitable societies, and 
such like agencies for good ; but the great energies of the 
church of God have not been put forth ; the inward might of 
an active faith has not been fully roused; what has been done, 
has been for the most part done by a few ; and while we 
acknowledge thankfully, that there has been a blessing 
fully proportioned to the efforts made, we cannot but per- 
ceive that the reason why there has not been more blessing, 
is because the efforts have been so small. 

What department is there of Christian labor, that is 
being worked with the full energies of the church of God ? 
What parish, or district, what institution, or society, what 
family circle is receiving the impulses* of Christian ministry 
in its highest efforts, its very fullest powers ? We look 
around in vain ; and were it not, that in the munificence 
of God, single grains are made to bring forth many more 
than themselves, the reaping would be even as the sowing, 
scant and miserable indeed. 

Our readers will here remember that we are speaking of 
the people of God ; this fault lies in unnumbered instances 
at their door ; and they cannot allow themselves in this 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 83 

fault without suffering loss. The loss which they shall 
suffer does not touch their eternal life, for " he that he- 
He veth on the Son hath everlasting life;" but it does touch 
and affect the measure of their future reward. That 
glory should be given at all, is of free grace, but the 
measure of that glory shall be " according to works." 
We cannot fail in ministry, and testimony, without suffer- 
ing loss. " Therefore my beloved brethren," says St. 
Paul in 1 Cor. xv, 58, u be ye steadfast, unmoveable, al- 
ways abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as 
ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 
" Ye," says St. Peter, 1 Peter ii, 9, "are a chosen gen- 
eration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar peo- 
ple, that ye should shew forth the praises of Him, who 
hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light." 
Here the apostles are speaking to true believers — to you, 
dear reader, if you have embraced Christ; your life is 
claimed on the ground of having been called a out of dark- 
ness into light;" and that life's labor is made sweet by the 
blessed truth that it " is not in vain in the Lord." 

But now, let us proceed to take in order three out of the 
many losers, by the sloth of God's people, in this matter of 
Ministry and Testimony. They are 
I. The Christian himself. 
n. The Church of God. 

III. The world at large. 

It may be, that a contemplation of all this loss will stir 
you, dear reader, on to work ! 

The child of God is a loser here, and certainly hereafter 
also. Is it not a sweet and blessed feeling, when we are 
able to render daily service to the one we love ? We feel 
pleasure in being able to tell of our loye ; in being able to 



84 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

act it ; in showing it in the unnumbered little opportuni- 
ties, which continually present themselves in daily life. 
If love can proclaim its depth in some great deed, it cat 
whisper of it, in all the lesser deeds, which make up the 
sum of daily life. A little deed, like a gentle whisper, 
may tell much. We can imagine no greater blow to gen- 
uine love, than such a saying as this, " You may feel 
love, you may rejoice in it, you may nurse it in your 
bosom, but you must never shew it" How could our 
human love bear such a restraint as this ? How could we 
bear to feel it ever coming to our lips, and yet those lips 
never to be permitted to utter a word about it? „How 
could we bear to feel it ever welling upward from the heart 
to the eye, while that eye was not permitted to beam with 
one loving look, but was compelled to imprison, as with an 
impassable barrier of clear thick ice, the warm springs 
beneath ? To be placed in such circumstances, amongst 
those we love here below, would be hell on earth, and the 
punishment proving too severe for mortal frames, would 
wear us out. And if we be lovers of Christ, if we feel 
that we owe all to Him, if He have our hearts, how does 
it come to pass that we do not come forth in ministry for 
Him ? and not only for Him, but to Him, for all that is . 
for Him is to Him also ? The woman that brake the ala- 
baster box of ointment loved much, and she anointed the 
way-worn feet of Jesus, with all that she had most precious ; 
and in most touching personal service, she wiped them with 
the hairs of her head. Her love would have her best be- 
stowed upon her Lord ; she ministered to Him of her sub- 
stance, and of her energies ; alas ! how many of us are 
deficient in our ministry, with both of these. In Mary's 
case there was indeed a personal ministry, a ministry of 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 85 

self. We are told that "she wiped his feet with her hair." 
A woman's hair is her glory, the greatest adornment of 
beauty which she has received from God. that about which 
she generally takes the most care in the attiring of her 
person : and here we have this loving woman giving that 
which is her greatest adornment to perform a menial office 
for Christ. " She wiped his feet w r ith her hair." The 
feet which had been soiled by travel — the feet which bare 
the marks of His journeyings to and fro, of houseless wan- 
derings for man's salvation ; these, though they were the 
least honorable portion of His person, were the objects of 
her care ; she poured the ointment on his head and feet, 
but she wiped also His feet with her hair. And herein she 
was not left without honor, for was ever any head so dis- 
tinguished as that which bare away a part of what had 
anointed Christ ? I would rather have had that ointment 
than the pearly wreath or jewelled crown ; that ointment 
than the warrior's helmet or the victor's laurel ; the glory 
of the diadem is for time, but the glory of an honor like 
this is for eternity ; the crested helm of the warrior is 
struck down in battle, but the strongest amongst the evil 
ones could not tear from this disciple the glory of this 
deed ; the chaplet of the victor fades, and his very name 
becomes erased from . the annals of human fame, but the 
halo of this woman's love shall never perish, and perhaps 
in her resurrection body it shall be seen, for peculiar love 
has its own peculiar rewards, and it may be that men shall 
be rewarded, not only according to the value, but also ac- 
cording to the manner of their deeds. 

But what does this truth teach us ? what, save that the 
very best we have should be ungrudgingly applied by love 
to do even the most menial deed for Christ. And oh ! that 



86 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

we may have greater grace from heaven, never to think 
anything of Christ's too lowly for our care, anything of 
ours too good for His lowly work. Nothing is lowly that 
belongs to Him except His character ; everything becomes 
dignified from the fact of its being connected with Him, the 
least service that is for Him is greater than the greatest 
that is for the earth, for He is not only the Son of God, 
but He is our Lord, our husband, and our king. If it be 
in itself a wearisome task to teach a dull and w T ayward 
child, let us bear in mind that we are teaching it for Him, 
and then we are invested with more honor than if we were 
training the noblest genius to become a foremost man in the 
ranks of intellectual but unsanctified knowledge — knowl- 
edge which is of the world and for it, and never goes beyond. 
If it be in itself great weariness in the flesh to climb the 
almost unending stairs, and keep vigils in the sick chamber 
during long and silent hours, to listen at times to almost 
unending complaints, to plod along an unvarying round of 
duty for which there is little earthly thank ; now set Christ, 
dear reader, between you and all your earthly toils, let 
them be for Him, then these toils become a burthen that is 
light, and these trials a glory which it is our privilege to 
be allowed to bear. Think it no small thing to do what 
might be called little deeds for Christ.; it was Jesus' feet 
that Mary wiped with her hair. 

Let us not forget that Mary bare away with her in her 
hair a portion of the perfumed ointment which had been 
poured upon the head of Christ ; she did not seek it, she 
did not immediately intend it ; but it clave to her, and what 
had been destroyed upon her Lord thus in part returns to 
her again. Thus has it ever been ; there is always, as is 
stated below, a reflex benefit of action for God ; we cannot 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 87 

minister to Christ without being benefitted ourselves, the 
honor which we bestow on Him, will cleave of necessity to 
us. In the very substance with which Mary perfumed the 
feet of Jesus, was she perfumed in her own hair ; she could 
thus only wipe His feet, but while she was doing so, He 
all silently and imperceptibly could anoint her head. And 
has Jesus been ever blest without blessing in turn again ? 
No doubt the world has not seen Him acting, even as no 
one at this feast saw Him do this, the blessing was between 
Himself and Mary, our blessing shall be between Jesus 
and ourselves ; it is a law of Christ's kingdom that whoso- 
ever spends on Jesus, on him will Jesus spend again, 
restoring him all that he has given, hallowed by the holy 
contact into which it has come. Beloved, let us try our 
love, let us probe deep into it, let us examine it, let us 
judge it by its fruits ; and if we be in no ministry, if we 
be giving no testimony, let us ask ourselves "how comes 
this to pass?" 

There is another aspect in which this matter is to be 
viewed. "When there is a lack of real ministry and testi- 
mony, we ourselves must suffer loss. That which we lose 
is, " the reflex benefit of action for OodP It is impossi- 
ble for any man to exercise himself in action for God, 
without receiving a reflex benefit upon his own soul. The 
rule of the spiritual kingdom is, that he who waters others 
shall be watered also himself. God will be no man's debtor, 
and as the heavens send down again in showers, the mois- 
ture which is attracted into them from the earth, by the 
heat of the sun, so God sends down as blessings upon His 
people, the results of those very energies, which He had 
drawn forth from them, and attracted upwards to Himself. 
Never did man do aught for God, but that He in His own 



88 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

way paid him back again. We cannot go forth in any real 
ministry and testimony for Him, without receiving a 
blessing ourselves. 

Here, however, our reader might say, "This is not 
altogether borne out by my experience ; I have been engaged 
in such and such acts of ministry, I have given such and 
such testimony ; but I do not see how I myself have been 
the better for it, or what particular blessing I have had in 
so doing.' '* 

Let us first enquire : what was our motive in ministry 
and testimony ? had you any motive at all ? Motives are 

* A touching instance of the reflex benefit of an act of ministry is 
given by D'Aubigne in his history of the Reformation. " When Luther 
had returned to his hotel (after having appeared before the Emperor in 
the Diet of Worms) seeking to recruit his body, fatigued by so severe a 
trial, Spalatin and other friends surrounded him, and all together gave 
thanks to God. As they were conversing, a servant entered, bearing a 
silver flagon filled with Eimbeck beer, ' My master,' said he, as he offered 
it to Luther, ' invites you to refresh yourself with this draught.' ' Who 
is the prince/ said the Wittemberg doctor, 'who so graciously remem- 
bers me ?' It was the aged Duke Eric of Brunswick. The reformer was 
affected by this present from so powerful a lord, belonging to the Pope's 
party. 'His Highness,' continued the servant, 'has condescended to 
taste it before sending it to you.' Upon this Luther, who was thirsty, 
poured out some of the Duke's beer, and after drinking it, he said : ' as 
this day Duke Eric has remembered me,, so may our Lord Jesus Christ 
remember him in the hour of his last struggle.' It was a present of 
trifling value; but Luther desirous of shewing his gratitude to a prince 
who remembered him at such a moment, gave him such as he had — a 
prayer. The servant returned with this message to his master. At the 
moment of his death, the aged Duke called these words to mind, and 
addressing a young page, Erancis of Kramm, who was standing at his 
bedside, ' Take the Bible,' said he, ' and read it to me.' The child read 
these words of Christ, and the soul of the dying man was comforted. 
' Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye 
belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward" 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 89 

all- important in the spiritual life, and especially in work 
for God. We can imagine a person in tolerably active 
ministry, and giving pretty decided testimony, without any 
motive at all. Suppose a person to be thrown into what is 
commonly called " religious society ;" he may fall into a 
certain habit of acting from routine, and into a certain for- 
mula of speaking, without really living and speaking to 
God at all. Just as the chameleon takes the color of sur- 
rounding objects, or as man drops naturally more or less 
into the habits of the climate in which he lives, so we are 
often influenced by the religious society in which we are 
cast. Under these circumstances, very little passes between 
God and the soul ; we become pieces of spiritual machinery, 
we miss the connecting link through which blessing should 
have come. The minister of the gospel, the visitor of the 
sick, the teacher in the Sunday School, may one and all be 
at work, but not at work to God. That which we must be 
careful about, above all other things in ministry, is to do it 
to God : to let our ministry first be laid before Him : and 
then, having been consecrated, and having been made 
powerful by Him, to let it work amongst our fellow men. 
Our bow of service should arch from earth to heaven, and 
then back to earth again. Let our ministry pass through 
the bands of Christ, as did the bread wherewith He fed the 
five thousand : and then, poor though the provision may 
be, which we have in ourselves, it will not only do wonders, 
but come unexhausted out of an effort, in which, humanly 
speaking, it might have been spent. In all our work for 
God, let us have Him distinctly before us : let us say, "It 
is for Thee, Father, it is for Thee, and for Jesus, and 
the Spirit :" and this distinctness of purpose will not be 
without its reward ; for a new strength will thus enter into 



90 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

our efforts ; God will be in them ; we shall feel His pervad- 
ing presence in them ; and we shall be spared that faint- 
heartedness, which otherwise might have come upon us, and 
neutralized the effort we were about to make. 

The realization of the presence of God is beautifully 
brought before us in the prayer of Teava one of the Raro- 
tongan converts in the South Sea. No sooner had the 
Rarotongans felt the power of the gospel of Christ them- 
selves, than they earnestly desired to take the boon to the 
islands of the Samoan group. In making known his desire 
to go as a Christian evangelist to the savage tribes of 
Samoa, Teava wrote : — " My desire to fulfil Christ's com- 
mand is very great : He said to His disciples, ' Go ye into 
all the w T orld.' My heart is. compassionating the heathen, 
who know not the salvation which God has provided for the 
world. Let me go to those savages. Why is the delay ? 
May God direct us, but my desire for this work is very 
great." This good man's desire was fulfilled ; he was 
taken to Samoa, he landed in the midst of its savage popu- 
lation ; he gained a position at Monono, an influential 
station, and, besides being one of the most intelligent and 
consistent pioneers to the European missionaries there, he 
has been for many years one of their best native assistants 
in translating, in schools, and in the general work of the 
station. 

A part of a prayer of this excellent teacher has been 
recorded by Mr. Williams, which he offered to God, on 
board ship, on his passage to Samoa, which shews the real- 
ization of God in effort in ministry. " =* * * if we fly to 
heaven," said the good man, addressing God, " there we 
shall find Thee ; if we dwell upon the land, Thou art there 
also ; if we sail on the sea, Thou art there ; and this affords 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 91 

us comfort, so that we sail upon the ocean without fear, 
because Thou, God, art in our ship. 

" The King of our bodies has his subjects, to whom he 
issues his orders, but if he himself goes with them, his 
presence stimulates their zeal ; they work with energy, they 
do it soon, they do it well. Lord, Thou art the King 
of our spirits ; Thou hast issued orders to Thy subjects to 
do a great work ; Thou hast commanded them to go into all 
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. We, 
Lord, are going upon that errand, and let Thy presence 
go with us to quicken us, and enable us to persevere in the 
great work until we die. 

ri Thou hast said that Thy presence shall go with Thy 
people even to the end of the world. Fulfil, Lord, to us 
this cheering promise. I &ee, Lord, a compass in this 
vessel by which the seamen steer the right course, that we 
may escape obstruction and danger. Be to us, Lord, 
the compass of salvation."* 

Let us remember also, to look beyond this world. Here 
our ministry and testimony may seem to be able to do but 
little., perhaps not to accomplish anything at all ; and be- 
cause we can trace no results, we may see no use in our 
goin£ on ; but hereafter there are to be diversities of re- 
ward : and if we stand not in testimony, we shall lose glory 
and position ; the positive, the enduring property of the 
other life. 

Here let us say a word or two upon the positions, in 
which ministry is to be carried on. God has placed every 
one of us in a position ; He has ordered, and measured, the 
diameter of our circle ; He has given us our sphere ; He 

* Gems from the Coral Islands. 



92 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

has a record of all the opportunities which that sphere 
affords ; and we shall be reckoned with, not concerning mat- 
ters beyond our sphere, but concerning* all matters within 
our sphere. 

Let us take as an illustration, the case of the mother of a 
family. The cares of a family are numerous and heavy ; 
and there are many instances, in which it is impossible for 
a mother, and head of a house, to be engaged in much ex- 
ternal ministry for God. But if she be willing to serve 
Him, she need not be disheartened. 

Is not home a little world in itself, and is not she, either 
for good or evil, the grand influence of home, much, most 
of it taking its tone from her? Would that Christian 
mothers recognized more the great opportunities and re- 
sponsibilities of home ministry ; that they saw how the very 
fact of their influence being concentrated, gave it force ! 
The charge of gunpowder, which occupies but a little space, 
sends the shot to a long distance ; what mother can tell 
how far her concentrated influence will send her children, 
in the career of holiness, and usefulness amongst their fel- 
lows. There is ministry in a mother's look. It has re- 
appeared in after life, amid the gleaming eyes which burned 
with unhallowed fires ; and succored the tempted one. by 
the memory of its solemn, soft, and holy gaze. There is 
ministry in a mother's voice. It has re-echoed, after many 
years in the chambers of the memory, and warned in deep 
mysterious tones, as though it now came from another 
world, and cheered, and soothed, with even more than the 
power it possessed in earlier days, as though it were privi- 
leged to speak with the soft melody of heaven. Yes ! there 
is ministry even in a mother's touch ; and long after the 
hand from which it came, is cold in the motionless solitude 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 93 

of the tomb, its impress remains in living power. A mys- 
terious hand from the invisible world traced the sentence 
of Belteshazzar s ruin ; this hand, mysterious and invisible 
also, leaves imprinted on the heart, words at once of warn- 
ing and of love — words of most powerful warning, because 
words of love. 

Ci When I was a little boy," said a good man, "my 
mother used to bid me kneel beside her, and place her hand 
upon my head, while she prayed. Ere I was old enough 
to know her worth, she died, and I was left too much to my 
own guidance. Like others I was inclined to evil passions, 
but often felt myself checked, and, as it were, drawn back 
by a soft hand upon my head. When a young man, I 
travelled in foreign lands, and was exposed to many tempta- 
tions. But when I would have yielded, that same hand 
was upon my head, and I was saved. I seemed to feel its 
pressure, as in the days of my happy infancy ; and some- 
times there came with it a solemn voice, saying, c Do not 
this great wickedness, my son, nor sin against God.' ?? 

Yes ! Christian mothers, God requires testimony and 
ministry from you, in your own circles. If you be limited 
to them, by Him, He will accept your home ministry, and 
He will not leave you without a reward. You shall act 
upon the w T orld, from the recesses of your own sanctified 
home ; the ministry which you carried on for God upon 
the child at your knee, shall have a place, not in the annals 
of the world alone ; your sons will perhaps be the fathers of 
God-fearing, and God-praising families ; they will perhaps 
minister in the public service of the sanctuary ; they will 
salt the society in which they move. It may be, that your 
daughters, as mothers, will reproduce your influence, the 
circle widening with every generation ; and thus (provided 



94 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

God has limited your circle) shall you, if you minister in 
it for Him, throw forth circles ever widening more and 
more, so that you, being dead, shall speak, and live, and 
move in influence, long after you have departed in the 
flesh. 

Are there not cares, and privations, and many troubles 
to be borne, from time to time, in the ministry of home ? 
Are there not self-denials to be endured, and exertions to 
be made ? There are — for all such as would carry on an 
active ministry for God ; as desire to do something more 
than merely drag through, or discharge duties, which they 
cannot well avoid. 

Thus the individual suffers, when ministry and testimony 
are neglected. There is another sufferer, also, i.e. the 
Church of Christ. That church must suffer injury, when 
the Lord's people are not occupying their place ; for as in 
the human body, if one member suffer, all the others suffer 
with it, so in the church, if one congregation, or one 
individual be holding back, the church, as a body, suffers 
loss. 

What is this loss ? In the first place, the church of God 
has its power of impression diminished. The church is 
made up of individuals, and when those individuals are 
feeble, and of little weight, the church in their locality 
makes a corresponding feeble impression. A branch of the 
church need not be large, to do great things ; where two or 
three are gathered together in the name of Christ, there is 
He in the midst of them. The church of early days was 
small at first ; and even now, some very small branches of 
the church are making great impressions, and doing great 
things ; their members are in ministry ; and here, under the 
influence of the Spirit, lies the secret of their success. 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 95 

But let us look for a moment, not at churches great or 
small, but at individuals. How much might be accom- 
plished, by the efforts of even isolated individuals. The 
man who determines to seize opportunities as they are pre- 
sented to him, and to work with humble means, when great 
ones are not entrusted to him, may do wonders in the spiritual 
world. To write a few texts on a half sheet of note paper, 
seems but a poor way of doing good, yet see the results of 
this act of ministry for God. The following account was 
sent recently to the Secretary of the Religious Tract 
Society by a gentleman, who confirms its accuracy. It is 
a true story of Lucknow. 

"In the station of , in the Upper Provinces of 

India, I was one morning visiting the hospital as usual. 
As I entered the General Hospital, I was told by one of the 

men that a young man of the Regiment was anxious 

to speak to me. In the inner ward I found, lying on his 
chaepoy, in the corner, a new face, and walking up to him, 
said, ' I am told you wish to see me ; I do not recollect the 
pleasure of having seen you before/ ' No/" he said, 'I 
have never seen you, yet you seem no stranger, for I have 
often heard speak of you/ I asked him if he was ill or 
wounded. 1 I am ill,' he replied. He went on to say that 
he had just come down from Cawnpore. ' Perhaps you 
would like me to tell you my history. It may be you 
remember, a long time since, some of our men going into 
the hospital opposite, as you sat reading to one of the High- 
landers. There were some half-dozen or more of them ; 
they went to see a sick comrade. You went up presently to 
them, and told them how grateful you and all your country- 
people were to your noble soldiers for so readily coming to 
protect you all ; and how deeply you sympathized with them 



96 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

in the noble cause in which they were now going to take a 
share. Then you talked to them of the danger which would 
attend them. You reminded them that life is a battle-field 
to all, and asked them if they were soldiers of Christ, and 
if they had thought of the probability of their falling in 
battle. I have heard all about that long talk you had with 
the men. Then you gave your Bible to one, and asked him 
to read a passage. He chose the twenty-third Psalm, and 
you prayed. They asked you for a book or tract to remind 
them of what had been said, and you gave all you had in 
your bag. But for one man there was none. They were 
to start that afternoon, so that you had not time to get one. 
But you went to the apothecary, and got pen and paper 
from him. When you came back, you gave this paper to 
him, telling him you should look for him in heaven. 5 As 
he said this, the poor fellow pulled out from the breast of 
his shirt half a sheet of note paper, on which I recognised 
my writing, though nearly illegible from wear. On it were 
written the 1st, 7th, 10th, 14th, 15th, and 17th verses of 
the 5th chapter of the 2nd Corinthians, and that hymn, 

* How sweet the name of Jesus sounds.' 

'That man,' he continued, l and I were in the same com- 
pany, but he was a day ahead of me. We met in Cawnpore, 
then marched on with the rest to Lucknow. Whenever we 

halted, the first thing did was to take out his paper, 

and read it aloud to those who cared to hear ; then he 
prayed with us. As we marched he spoke much of his old 
father and mother, and only brother, and wished he could 
see them once more. But he was very, very happy, and 
ready to go i home,' if God saw fit. As we neared Luck- 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 97 

now he dwelt much on eternity, and said to me, ' It is very 
solemn to be walking into death. I shall never leave this 
ill-fated city.' We had many fights standing always side 
by side. I am an orphan ; I lost my parents when a child, 
and was brought up at school. I never had one to love me, 
and life was indeed a weary burden ;• yet beyond, all was 

darker still, for I knew nothing of a Saviour. 's 

reading and words come to my heart — he was so kind to me, 
and always called me brother. I never loved till I had him. 
He had found Jesus, and led me to love Him too. I can- 
not find words to say how I joyed, when at last I felt I bad 
a Friend above. Oh ! I never shall forget my joy when I 
first understood and believed. We had no book, only the 
paper. We knew it off by heart, and I don't know which 
of us loved it best. At last, in a dreadful fight in one 

of the gardens, a ball struck in the chest. Words 

cannot say my grief when he fell — the only one I had to 
love me. I knelt by him, till the garden was left in our 
hands, and then bore him to the doctors. But it was too 

late — life was almost gone. c Dear / he said to me, 

4 1 am only going home first. We have loved to talk of 
home together : don't be sorry for me, for I'm so happy. 

1 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds.' 

Read me the words she wrote.' I pulled them out from 
his bosom, all stained with his blood, as you see, and re- 
peated them. ' Yes,' he said, 'the love of Christ has 
constrained us. I am almost home. I'll be there to wel- 
come you and her; good-bye, dear .' And he was 

gone, but I was left. Oh ! it was so very bitter ! I knelt 
by him and prayed I might soon follow him. Then I took 
his paper, and put it in my bosom, where it has been since. 

5 



98 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

I and some of our men buried him in the garden. I have 
gone through much fighting since, and came down here on 
duty with a detachment yesterday. They think me only 
worn with exposure, and tell me I shall be soon well, but 
I shall never see the sky again. I would like to lie by his 
side, but it cannot be.' Poor fellow! he cried long and 
bitterly. I could not speak, but pressed his hand. At 
length he said, £ So you'll forgive me making so bold in 
speaking to you. He often spoke of you, and blessed you 
for leading him to Jesus. And he it was who led me to 
Jesus. We shall soon be together again, and won't we 
welcome you when you come home ?' We read and prayed 
together. He was quite calm when I rose from my knees. 
He was too weak to raise his head even from the pillow, 
but was quite peaceful and happy. 4 1 feel,' he said, ' that 
I shall not be able to think much longer ; I have seen such 
frightful things. Thank God ! I have sure and blessed 
hope in my death. I have seen so many die in fearful terror.' 

I turned to go. He said, c Dear , when I am gone, 

promise me this paper shall be put in my coffin. It gave 
me a friend on earth, who led me to a Saviour in heaven.' 
I promised. Next morning I went to see him, but oh, how 
sadly altered did I find him ! Those soft brown eyes were 
glassy and lustreless. He was never to know me again. 
Dysentery in its fearful rapid form had seized him during 
the night. I took his hand in mine ; it was clammy and 
powerless. Three of the men in the ward came up to me, 
and said, ' Till sense left him, he was talking of home with 
Jesus.' They knelt with me in prayer beside the poor 
sufferer. I went again the next day. His body was still 
there, but his spirit had fled a few minutes previous. He 
was covered with a blanket, and the coolies were waiting to 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 99 

bear him away. I took his paper from his pillow, where it 
had been laid, and went to the apothecary. We walked 
back to the corpse, and he placed it in the hands of the 
departed. He was buried that evening. I have often 
thought since, how beautiful was that heavenly love which 
bound those two dear young soldiers together. How it 
sweetened their last days on earth. They were indeed 
friends in Jesus, and though their remains lie parted, yet 
they are both sleeping in Jesus. Oh, what a glorious res- 
urrection theirs will be in the day of His appearing !" 

It seemed but a poor opportunity for usefulness, when on 
ascending the pulpit, a minister found his congregation to 
consist of a solitary individual. Such was the case on one 
occasion, when Dr. Beecher, of Cincinnati, was about to 
preach. The Doctor once engaged to preach for a country 
minister, on exchange ; and the Sunday proved to be ex- 
cessively stormy, cold, and uncomfortable. It was mid- 
winter, and the snow was piled in heaps all along the roads, 
so as to make the passage very difficult. Still the minister 
urged his horse through the drifts, till he reached the 
church, put the animal into a shed, and went in. As yet, 
there was no person present : and after looking about, the 
old gentleman, then young, took his seat in the pulpit. 
Soon the door opened, and a single individual walked up 
the aisle, looked about, and took a seat. The hour came for 
commencing service, but no more hearers. Whether to 
preach to such an audience or not, was now the question ; 
and it was one that Lyman Beecher was not long in de- 
ciding. He felt that he had a duty to perform, and he had 
no right to refuse to do it, because only one man could reap 
the benefit of it : and, accordingly, he went through all the 
services, praying, singing, preaching, and pronouncing the 



100 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

benediction, with only one hearer. And, when all was 
over, he hastened down from his desk, to speak to his 
" congregation," but he had departed. A circumstance so 
rare was referred to occasionally ; but twenty years after it 
was brought to the Doctor's mind quite strangely. Trav- 
elling somewhere in Ohio, the Doctor alighted from the 
stage, one day, in a pleasant village, when a gentleman 
stepped up, and, spoke to him familiarly, calling him by 
name. " I do not remember you,' 7 said the Doctor. " I 
suppose not," said the stranger, u but we spent two hours 
alone once in a house, in a storm." " I do not recall it, 
sir," said the old man, "pray when was it?" " Do you 
remember preaching, twenty years ago, in such a place, to 
a single person V a Yes, yes," said the Doctor, grasping 
his hand, "I do indeed ; and if you are the man, I have 
been wishing to see you ever since." "lam the man, sir, 
and that sermon saved my soul, made a minister of me, and 
yonder is my church. The converts of that sermon, sir, 
are all over Ohio." 

If we cannot do what we would, let us do what we can, 
such is the true spirit of ministry ; and he who has this 
spirit will ever find that he will have as much as ever he 
can do. The German colporteur in Pennsylvania did what 
he could in dropping his few tracts, and in years after, they 
made room for his books. This is his story : — 

" I revisited the neighborhood where, in 1852, I com- 
menced my colporteur labors, and where, on being refused 
permission to stop at a house over night, I had left a few 
tra.cts as I went away, hoping for the blessing of God upon 
them. I now called at the same house, and found the man 
reading the Testament. In looking around the room, I 
saw that the wall behind the glass was papered with tracts. 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 101 

On calling attention to it, the man said, c Some years ago, 
a man who carried books and tracts was here, and left us a 
few to read ; but I ' — here he stopped, and seemed to hes- 
itate about saying more. I enquired if he had read them. 
\ Xo,' said he, -'for at that time I did not believe such 
things, and therefore pasted them to the wall.' ! Do you 
now believe them ? 7 I enquired. ! Yes. As often as I 
approached the wall to look into the glass, I could not help 
seeing and reading them. It was the same with my wife 
and children. We were all led to see our sinfulness, and 
from that time we had no peace until we commenced pray- 
ing, and continued till we found peace with God through 
Christ.' He told me that he and his wife and children had 
joined the church, and that he frequently had expressed a 
wish to see the man who had given him the tracts. l If he 
should come again,' said I, l what good would it do you?' 
c I should like to have some of those good books ; I have 
borrowed several of my neighbors, and read them, but could 
never get any for my own.' Opening my saddle-bags, I 
informed him that I was the very man, and showed him 
my books. I cannot describe the joy they felt on that 
occasion. I had to stay over night with them, and the 
next morning they bought several dollars' worth of books." 

Dear reader, do not try to shift from yourself your share 
of responsibility as regards ministry. No matter who, or 
what you be, if you be the Lord's, there is a sphere in 
which you are to act. It is your sphere, God has marked 
it out as such : and is it, alas, unoccupied, either from 
never having been entered on at all, or from being de- 
serted after having been wrought in for a time ? 

You can do something in ministry. Try. 

" Children, I want each of you to bring a new scholar 



102 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

to the school with you next Sunday," said the Superin- 
tendent of a Sunday school to his scholars one day. 

"I can't get any new scholars," said several of the 
children to themselves. 

"I'll try what I can do," was the whispered response of 
a few 'others. 

One of the latter class went home to his father, and 
said, " Father, will you go to the Sunday school with 
me?" 

" I can't read, my son," replied the father, with a look 
of shame. 

" Our teachers will teach you, dear father," answered 
the boy, with respect and feeling in his tones. 

" Well, I'll go," said the father. 

He went, learned to read, sought and found the Saviour, 
and at length became a colporteur. Years passed on, and 
that man had established four hundred Sunday schools, 
into which, thirty -Jive thousand children were gathered ! 

Thus you see what trying did. That boy's effort was 
like a tiny rill, which soon swells into a brook, and at 
length becomes a river. His effort, by God's grace, saved 
his father : and his father being saved, led thirty-Jive thou- 
sand children to the Sunday school ! 

The church, if it awoke to a recognition of the ministry 
to which it is called, would astonish the world ; it is no 
marvel, if a sleepy church leaves unimpressed a sleepy 
world. If the world took up a taunting tone toward the 
church, we could not be surprised; it might say, " Yonder 
is a saint, he tells me that he is called to be a peculiar 
man ; and that in Scripture, his sort are called i peculiar 
people ;' he says he is to take up his cross daily, and to 
war with the world, the flesh, and the Devil ; but he leads 






MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 103 

an uncommonly easy life : he does not seem to trouble him- 
self, any more than the rest of us do, about the world, the 
flesh, and the Devil." The ways of the people of God, 
are, alas ! in the present day too like the ways of the world ; 
the seal is almost as smooth as the wax ; and what marvel 
if the impression that it leaves be slight. 

We cannot but perceive, that those who hold the pure 
truths of grace, and see their justification by simple faith 
in the blood of Jesus, are in many instances of practical 
activity, and outward ministry, for behind those who dis- 
tort the truth, and seek, in part at least, to do for them- 
selves what can be done by Christ alone. Well might they 
say to some who glory in the rectitude of their theology, 
11 Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew 
thee my faith by my works;" they in many instances put us 
to shame : and the world, which judges by external evi- 
dence, will give the palm to those whose activity they see 
the most. 

See the position in which the church is placed in the 
aggregate ; one might well ask, where is it ? here and there 
we see an isolated individual, or perhaps a little company, 
ministering to Christ, and for Him in the world ; but where 
is the great body, the church ? Where can we behold its 
arrayed battalions, where its forces massed for a grand 
assault upon the powers of evil ; where do we see it pos- 
sessed with power from the very impetus of its weight and 
numbers? The sight is nowhere to be seen: split into 
fragments, in many cases inert, and standing aside from 
ministry, it exists no doubt, but its existence has little in- 
fluence on the world. May the Lord quicken it, and 
quicken each of His own people, as members of it; and 



104 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

then, blessings to thousands, and tens of thousands will be 
the result ! 

A few words upon the world, as the third loser by the 
non- ministering of many of the people of God, will close 
this chapter. So long as the church of God takes up a 
defensive, and not an o/fensive position, so long will she be 
occupying a lower position than that assigned to her by 
Christ. The position occupied by Christ was aggressive ; 
that marked out for His apostles was aggressive; that 
occupied by the early church was aggressive. Peter and 
John refused to be silent, and said, u Whether it be right 
in the sight of God, to hearken unto you, more than unto 
God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which 
w T e have seen and heard." Acts iv, 19. God has always 
honored the aggressive assaults of His church, upon the 
powers of darkness — a simply defensive church is sure to be 
despised. The world has a complaint to make against the 
people of God ; they do not, in this ministry and testimony, 
hold forth the light to a world that lieth in sin ; and al- 
though the world does not now complain, and wicked men 
are perhaps glad to be spared the intrusiveness of a trouble- 
some testimony, still a time may come, when these very 
men will perhaps prefer a charge against the people of the 
Lord ; when they will say, " Why did they not testify to us, 
so that we must at least have been startled;^ and perhaps 

■ * The following speech of a converted Rarotongan, though couched 
in amusing language, is full of profitable suggestion. In the course of 
his address, he said, " Fathers and Brethren — Last night as I lay on my 
bed thinking on my present experiences, the cocks began to crow, and 
all at once a thought came into my mind that they resembled our teach- 
ers and missionaries, they are always crowing, warning and teaching 
us from God's word. Papenia came first, and he crowed every morn- 
ing and evening, making known the sins of the people, and the love 



MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 105 

we might not have come into this place of torment?'' Yes, 
perhaps that charge may come, even before they leave the 
earth. There have been instances of this. Here is one. 

For several successive evenings, a beloved and faithful 
minister preached " Christ, and Him crucified/' to an 
attentive and solemn audience. God's Spirit was there ; 
this was known by the earnest attention, the solemn still- 
ness, the falling tear. 

Evening after evening, at the close of the discourse, the 
pastor invited all who felt concerned for their salvation, to 
remain for conversation and prayer. Some remained ; others 
went home : some, it may be, in the solitude of their own 
rooms, to consecrate themselves to the service of Christ ; 
but more, it is to be feared, to drown the voice of conscience, 
stifle conviction, and harden themselves in their impeni- 
tence. 

One evening, after a faithful sermon, the minister, renew- 
ing the invitation to enquirers to remain, narrated the 
following facts : — 

He was awakened at midnight by a message from a young 
lady sinking in a decline, who wished to see and converse 
with him. As he entered the room, he noticed a younger 

of God ; then came Wiliatneni and Pitimani and Barokote, and they aJl 
crowed, all alike and continuously. Ah ! it was morning then ; and some 
of you fathers awoke out of your sleep of sin, and you have had a long 
day, but many of us sleep on ; we just heard the sound of the voice, and 
lifted up our eyelids, but scon folded our hands in our folly, and slept on 
in sin. It was thus with me, but I am thankful the missionary did not 
fly away to another land, and leave us to sleep on until death. He 
remained, and kept on crowing the word of G-od. But alas ! it is noon- 
day now ; my morning is passed, yet I rejoice that I have been awakened 
out of my sleep, and desire to give the remainder of my day to G-od's 
service." — Gems from the Coral Islands. 



106 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

sister of the dying one, who was evidently fast following 
her into eternity. He commenced asking the dying girl of 
her prospects, and as he did so, the younger sister arose, 
with a look that said, plainer than words, she did not w T ish 
to hear the conversation, and abruptly left the room. But 
he continued, and was rejoiced to find that the dying girl 
w r as leaning on the strong arm of her Beloved, and that, as 
her feet trod the dark valley. His rod and staff comforted 
her. And so she died — in hope. 

Only a few w r eeks from her death, he was again sent for ; 
this time to visit the younger sister, who was so soon 
following the elder to the grave. As he went to her bedside, 

she looked up with great anxiety, and asked, "Mr. M , 

do you remember, when you were here before, and began to 
talk to my sister about death, I left the room?" " Yes ; 
why did you do so?" " Because I did not wish to hear 
what you would say ; and now see where I am. Oh, Mr. 

M , w T hy did you not follow me. and make me hear?" 

There was agony, even despair in her tones, as she said it ; 
and then she added, u Oh, it is a dreadful — dreadful thing 
to die." And before many hours she died — in despair. 

" Never, never," said he, " shall I forget that scene, and 
never shall I cease to urge sinners, even to follow them, if 
need be, that they may be warned of their danger and led 
to their only Refuge." 

Dear reader ! let us go forth to our testimony, and say 
these "I w T ills" with all our hearts, and practise them in 
our daily lives. Let us lose no time, for souls are perish- 
ing around, and our own lives are fading fast away ; and 
for aught we know, the night shades of our ministry and 
testimony may be gathering around us even now ! 







n. 
m "i m\\" &t tomtw. 

Psalm cxlv, 5. " I will speak of the glorious lionor of Thy majesty." 
; HE subject upon which we have here to enter, is 

THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF MINISTRY AND TES- 
TIMONY brought before us, in the determinations 
of the Psalmist which we have just read. They 
may be said to divide themselves into three classes. 
I. Converse. 
II. Teaching. 
III. Manifestation. 

The Psalmist's determination with reference to converse, 
will form the subject of our consideration in the present 
chapter. "I will speak," said he, " of the glorious honor 
of Thy majesty." 

Little need be brought forward, to shew how low is the 
standard, of the habitual converse of the world. Buying 
and selling, gossiping and trifling, form the staple subjects 
of its daily convei-se. As are men's minds, their hopes, 
their intei^ests, their enjoyments, and their fears, so also is 
their conversation. Of the earth, earthy, such is the best 
description of it ; and that it is so, we cannot be surprised. 
Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also ; and 
where the heart is, there generally will the tongue be too. 
Of course it is not for a moment to be supposed, that we 
would shut up all conversation about business, or the 



108 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

ordinary affairs of daily life ; most of the children of God, 
must get their bread by labor as well as others ; and to do 
this, they must mix more or less with the world ; but it is 
one thing to talk with the people of the world, it is another 
to be worldly in our tone. 

That, however, with which we have now to do is, the 
converse of God's people. Alas ! how low, how very low 
is this oftentimes, in its tone. When the world can, so to 
speak, make no demands upon us, when we need not speak 
of its affairs, how frequently do we find ourselves entering 
with interest upon what is small, and unimportant ; instead 
of upon subjects calculated to enlarge our knowledge of 
God, and our love to Christ. In a word, how often do we 
find ourselves without an aptitude for holy converse — with- 
out that abundance of the heart, out of which the mouth 
should speak — without that readiness in holy things, which 
w r ould make us turn our conversation in their direction 
without any effort \ without any feeling that we were ful- 
filling a duty, or doing what was right, or performing a 
task. Labored conversation on religious matters, is seldom 
profitable ; it is like a tune played by one without an ear ; 
correct indeed in every note, and the time kept with the 
utmost precision ; but the spirit of the composer is not in 
it ; it is like poetry, exact indeed in measure, and in rhyme, 
but lacking the inspiration, which makes true poetry what 
it is ; it is like a statue with rounded limb, and smoothly 
chiselled surface, but destitute of that life, which plays in 
smiles around the lips, and glitters with light in the deep 
recesses of the eyes; all may he: proper and perfect, but 
alas ! all may be also dead. The converse upon religious 
matters which is pumped with labor from a christian, is 
very different from that which flows with ease. Better to 



CONVERSE. 109 

be silent, and commune with our own hearts, if we feel, 
from any cause, unwilling to converse on high and holy 
things : for to talk religion is a bad thing. 

Let us descend, however, from generalities, to something 
more particular upon this matter ; for when certain points 
are brought before us with precision, we are more likely to 
derive some practical benefit ; and to bring forth some 
practical fruit in our daily life. 

Let us first take visiting. There are many christians 
who will find, if they will look into the matter, that they 
have many most unprofitable acquaintances, who, from cus- 
tom, they are compelled to visit. These acquaintances are 
not congenial to them ; perhaps in the first instance they 
never desired to meet them ; but they have done so through 
some of the various changes and chances of life, which are 
ever throwing us amongst new faces, and making us enter 
into new relationships. Such persons are unquestionably, 
at times, a great hindrance ; and if the christian can limit 
their number, so much the better. Many a christian has 
frittered away in his or her daily round of calls, not only 
much valuable time, but also much spiritual strength. A 
christian can never indulge in trifling of any kind, without 
deteriorating to some extent. 

And here I may point out the position in which God's 
ministers are often placed in this respect. They are 
expected, as it is called, to visit their people, (I mean the 
richer portion of them ;) and every minister who is alive to 
his duty, will endeavor to visit rich as well as poor. But 
the ideas of the visitor, and visited, are perhaps very dif- 
ferent : the former is anxious to do good ; it is, perhaps, 
entirely in a ministerial point of view he pays his visit ; 
but in nine cases out of ten, he can soon see that this is not 



110 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

the idea of the person on whom he calls. If there be a sick 
person in the house, then, so far as that individual is con- 
cerned, a religious aspect may be put upon the visit ; but 
not so far as others are concerned. Inside the walls of a 
place of worship, is, in their idea, the place where the min- 
ister ought to speak religion ; but not in their houses, and 
not upon a week day. If the minister do not go, he is 
thought a man that neglects his duty ; and many worldly 
people are piqued at not being paid the compliment of a 
call. If he do go, they are perhaps offended at his endea- 
vors to do good ; they have certainly done what in them 
lies, to waste his time ; if not to make him as great a trifler 
as themselves. This was sorely felt by the excellent James 
Hervey, who for some years before his death visited very 
few of the principal persons in the neighborhood. Being 
once asked why he so seldom went to see the gentlemen, 
who yet showed him all possible esteem and respect, he 
answered, ' 1 1 can hardly name a polite family, where the 
conversation ever turns upon the things of God. I hear 
much frothy and worldly chit-chat, but not a word of 
Christ ; and I am determined not to visit those companies 
where there is not room for my Master as well as for my- 
self,' 7 It often happens, that a minister cannot think what 
has happened to untune his mind, to blunt the fine edge of 
his spiritual thoughts, and to bring about such like evils ; 
if he turned his attention to this direction, he would some- 
times find out whence and how the evil came. 

Let us all, henceforth, pay some attention to the visits 
which we have to pay, or to receive ; if we cannot raise the 
tone of them as high as we would, at least let us prevent 
them from falling as low as they have a natural tendency 
to do. 



CONVERSE. Ill 

Is it not very painful to listen, from time to time, to the 
conversation of many who call themselves, and who, per- 
haps, are, " the children of God?" It is frequently the 
merest gossip, it is at times not wanting in the elements of 
slander, it is just " all about nothing;" when the whole 
thing is over we are just about as wise as before it began. 
In every step we take in life we leave a foot-fall behind us ; 
it will not be unprofitable to ask, what footprints have we 
left in our neighbors' houses ? We hope we shall not be 
misunderstood. If we were to attempt to put a stop to 
social intercourse, we should be doing what we believe is 
not according to the mind of God ; we would say to God's 
people, Cannot the tone of your visiting be raised ? 

And to turn from our converse in visiting and company 
to that of domestic relationship ; might we not also profita- 
bly ask whether this, too, could not be improved ? What 
speaking is there in our houses of the glorious honor of the 
majesty of God ? Are there not many professing christians' 
houses in which God, and Christ, and all holy things, are 
very seldom spoken about ? Are there not many husbands 
and wives, many brothers and sisters, who never interchange 
a word upon the highest, and holiest, and noblest themes ? 
Are there not comparatively few who can say, "We take 
sweet counsel together, and walk in the house of God as 
friends ?" Have not we, alas ! not only been backward in 
leading to holy converse, but do we not feel to our shame 
that we have damped it, and often been the means of extin- 
guishing it ? 

And by so doing we have suffered loss ; the heat which 
comes from the friction of mind with mind, has never kin- 
dled into a flame : the power of sympathy, which is as great 
in spiritual as in temporal things, has had no opportunity 



112 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

i 

of gathering, and of putting forth its energies ; mind has 
not been drawn out to mind, and souls have lost that 
strengthening and comfort, which, had they gone forth 
together to a common object, might have been theirs. See 
what a oneness exists between the parents of children, from 
the very fact, that the father and mother have a common 
interest, and talk about it as well as act for it. Insensibly 
they become knit into each other ; their own love is drawn 
out towards each other, while they are spending and being 
spent upon the common object of their affections. They do 
not love their children with this design : they do not act 
together with the view of producing this result ; it comes 
naturally ; and just so, when those who dwell together, love 
the Lord, and talk of Him, their hearts burn within them, 
as they journey on the road of life ; and they are joined 
together by a peculiar bond ; they feel that their interests 
for eternity are one, that they love the one Saviour, and 
are travelling on to a common home. May the Lord enable 
us, henceforth, to sanctify more and more the converse of 
home ! That blessed word will be invested with new and 
more sacred associations ; it will have a fresh halo of light 
thrown around it, if Jesus occupy his true place in it, as 
the relation above all others ; as the ONE who, with self- 
existing light, walks amid earth's lesser lights, from the 
grandsire, whose exhausted flame is glimmering in the 
socket, down to the last-born child whose feeble life is like 
the taper that has been just lit. The familiar household 
words of home will be all the more precious, if our home be 
Jesus 7 home, and His be the most familiar name, He the 
most frequent theme ; for wherever He is admitted. He 
diffuses a fragrance which perfumes all within its reach ; 
whatever He touches He anoints with an oil which forbids 



CONVERSE. 113 

the rust to eat, and the heavy wheels of life's daily work 
to creak. 

Oh. I can easily understand how in a household where 
Jesus is a well-known name, life's weary work is made 
light, and much of its hard pressure is removed, and much 
of what must else have proved bitterness, is made sweet. 

If Jesus enter into the thoughts and converse of daily 
life, the servant will not be afraid of profaning His holy 
name by encouraging a fellow-servant to do that day's work 
to Him ; and the husband will not forget to soothe the 
anxieties, and to hush the cares, and still the woman's fears, 
of the one who looks to him for support and counsel, by 
bringing into their conversations that well-known name, the 
name of Him who is touched with a feeling of our infirmi- 
ties, and whose heart is so soft, that it takes the impression 
of every line of our sorrow ; and so responsive, that it 
echoes every sigh we breathe : and she will be to him, even 
as he has been to her, and, having been counselled in the 
name of God, will, by the re-active law, counsel in the 
same name again • and having been strengthened in His 
name, will in that name repay, by strengthening in return ; 
and parents will not forget to make Jesus the subject of 
their teachings to their children, and it may be, that chil- 
dren as they talk of Him, may, in so doing, unwittingly ful- 
fil the great re-active law, and ask some question which 
will lead the parent into some new, and hitherto undreamed 
of truth. Thus may Jesus be in our homes on earth, for 
thus, assuredly will He be in our home in heaven ! 

And here we have touched but one point, even of chris- 
tian converse ; and that as a part of the " I will of Ministry 
and Testimony," but in this one point, how much is con- 
tained ! The Lord number you, dear reader, amongst 



114 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

those of whom it is said, " Then they that feared the Lord 
spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and 
heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before 
Him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon 
His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of 
hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels ; and I will 
spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth 
him." 




III. 
m "§ mm" at <&mtm. 

(continued.) 
Psalm cxlv, 5. " 1 will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty.' 11 

) E must talk much to God, we must talk much 
3) with Him, if we would safely talk much about 
Him. We must have an inner life, out of which 
the outward life must flow ; else our external 
life of holiness, in all its various streams, whether they be 
those which take their way through our own home or the 
houses of others, will run unevenly, and, at times, run dry. 

The secret of an effective holy life in public, will ever 
prove to be a holy life with God in private ; this is the 
root from which, in due season, will come both leaves and 
fruit. 

And let it be observed, that in this matter of converse, 
the fruit which is thus brought forth is not, of necessity, 
the power to speak with volubility upon sacred things. 
There are many eminent Christians who are not great 
talkers : but though not abundant of speech, they are 
weighty in it ; and what they bring forth in a few words, 
is often of more value than the much speaking of other 
men. Their words are like the large, rich, ripened fruit, 
which hangs singly upon the tree ; and which has absorbed 
all the strength and sap of the branch on which it hangs ; 



116 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

the words of others are at times too plentiful, and like the 
thick clustering, but immatured fruit, for the swelling and 
bringing to maturity of which, the branch has not sufficient 
strength. A few words and weighty, are better than many 
and weak. 

But now to turn more immediately to the matter we have 
in hand. God, and Christ, and the Spirit, and their honor, 
and all connected with them, should be the subjects of our 
converse; not because we ought to speak about them, nor 
even because it is a privilege so to do ; but because we, our- 
selves, have an intimate relation to, and interest in them 
all. We generally speak or converse about that, in which 
we ourselves have an interest ; the very fact of our having 
that interest and relationship, making us come on such a 
topic. It is personal interest that throws life into conver- 
sation ; we see a change come over the countenance, and 
into the tone of voice, and into the very attitude of the 
body, and the animation of the eye, when the element of 
personal interest, enters into the conversation in which we 
are engaged. And when we recall to mind our conversations 
on holy things, do we not feel how often they have 
been flat, and cold, how often they have dragged wearily 
along, because they lacked this very fire of the personal 
element, this very salt, and seasoning, of individual interest? 
We have, no doubt, come very short in this respect ; and it 
may be, our very listlessness and formality have done hurt ; 
our coldness and abstraction infected those, who, had we 
been otherwise, might have caught from our animated eye, 
a spark of spiritual intelligence; and from our earnest 
tones, a deeper knowledge of the realities of sacred truth. 

Oh ! how blessed, how altered will be the condition ot 
God's people in this respect, when they are perfected in 



C X V E II S E . 117 

glory ! Converse upon all that is holy, will then be their 
delight — converse, with an intelligence far above what they 
now possess — converse, the interest of which will never flag 
nor cease : they shall feel in glory that they have a common 
interest ; they shall be near the God, and Christ, to whom 
they stand in blessed relationship : all the restraints of 
human corruption, languor, and distraction, shall be 
removed : and saint shall doubtless communicate with saint, 
with a freedom, and a largeness, and a depth, of which not 
even an idea can be formed now. Meanwhile, let us, dear 
reader, try to improve, and endeavor in a measure, at least, 
now to attain that, which if we be Christ's, we shall assuredly 
attain to hereafter. When we converse upon anything con- 
nected with God, let us throw our own personal being into 
our words ; let us not content ourselves with abstract theo- 
ries, or truths about Him, and His : surely the christian, 
who is one with Christ, bone, as it were, of His bone, and 
flesh of His flesh, is nearly enough connected with Him, to 
make him speak with the power of personal interest, on 
every subject in which He is concerned. If this is to be the 
case, we must seek to have more personal realizations of God 
in our own souls ; that out of the abundance of the heart, 
the mouth may speak. 

But the word which we here translate " speak," is con- 
sidered by Hebrew critics to include also the idea of " expa- 
tiating," '-'speaking at large:" not merely "alluding to. inci- 
dentally, ' ' but t : entering into particulars : ' ' as though one took 
delight, in speaking upon the matter in hand. Now there is 
something very satisfactory in entering into particulars ; we 
can often gather light upon a great truth, by having had set 
before us some of the particulars connected with it ; we can 
often understand what is too high for us, in itself and by 



118 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

itself, by some examples which bring it within reach of our 
dull understandings. We are like men who want to attain 
a height, who have not wings to fly up to it, but who can 
reach it by going up a ladder, step by step. Particulars 
are often like the rounds of a ladder, little, it may be, in 
themselves, but very helpful to us ; and to dwell upon par- 
ticulars is often of use to ourselves ; it certainly is to many 
with whom we converse. 

Let us remember, that circumstanced as we are in our 
present state, we have no faculties for grasping in its simple 
grandeur the glorious honor of the majesty of God. We 
know most of God, from what we know of His doings 
amongst the children of men. Hereafter, the Lord's people 
shall, no doubt, have much revealed to them of the glorious 
honor of the majesty of God, which they could now neither 
bear nor understand ; meanwhile they have to know Him 
chiefly by what He has said and done ; and if only our eyes 
be open, we shall be at no loss to recognise in these, the 
glorious honor of His majesty. 

Perhaps it might be said by some, " What can we know 
of this ? We move in an humble sphere of life ; we never 
come in contact w T ith the mighty operations of God in 
nature, nor with anything remarkable in the way of His 
providence ; we have no opportunities of realizing the glori- 
ous honor of God's majesty;" but there is no sphere too 
contracted for this great display ; there is no position so 
low, that in it it will refuse to shine. The fault, dear reader, 
lies in ourselves ; the majesty of the sun is not seen by 
the eye that is blind ; the majesty of God in daily life is 
veiled, just in proportion to the darkness of our understand- 
ings. If God open our eyes, we behold wondrous things; 
not only out of His law, but in His daily ordering of events. 



CONVERSE. 119 

Yes ! in these common things, the glorious honor of God's 
majesty is to be seen ; just as His creative majesty is visible, 
in the formation of the smallest grass-blade or the meanest 
shell. When our very daily bread comes before us, com- 
mon as it is, the glorious honor of God's majesty is to be 
traced in it ; for what was every grain of corn of which it 
was composed, but a separate resurrection from the dead? 
And how could that have been brought about, save by the 
glorious majesty of God? Well might the Psalmist say, 
" I will meditate also of all Thy icork, and talk of Thy 
doings*'' 

Let me add, in conclusion, one or two practical direc- 
tions with reference to the "converse" upon which we have 
just now been dwelling. If we be God's people, let us shew 
the world that we have a real interest in everything con- 
nected with Him ; let them see by our way of speaking of 
Him, and His, that we love Him, and all connected with 
Him, in every way. And let us encourage each other, and 
magnify the majesty and honor of God, by bringing into 
our familiar converse, the one with the other, the particulars 
wherein we have found Him gracious, and wherein He has 
done wondrously for us. 

We cannot tell how blessed the result, which may be 
thus produced. Perhaps some Christian brother, dull of 
hearing and of seeing, will understand more of His great- 
ness and His goodness : perhaps some little spark, which 
we have struck from our knowledge or experience, may 
kindle a flame in him ; so that he may say " my heart burns 
within me on the way." It may be, that making use of 
our talent, we shall have more given unto us ; perhaps we 
shall be kept from some evil knowledge, or evil train of 
thought, which, coming up in other conversation, might 



120 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

have done us hurt. Of this we may be sure, that the more 
our conversation has to do with the glorious honor of the 
majesty of God, the more will it be free from all that is 
calculated to debase, or depress the mind : the more will 
self, in all its varied developments, be excluded : the less 
will there be of those idle words,, for which we must give 
account. 




rv. 

m "1 Witt" of tefttofl. 

Psalm li, 13. " Then ivill I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners 
shall be converted unto Thee." 

REACHING- is ennobled by the great fact that God 
Himself is a Teacher. The three persons of the 
Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — are all 
presented to us in Holy Scripture in the character 
of Teachers ; yea, not only of teachers, but of laborious 
Teachers, carrying on their work in the midst of many 
impediments ; and with patience, and wisdom, and skill. 

It is a sad fact, that but comparatively fe\r are alive to 
the vast importance of the position of the teacher. Teach- 
ing is looked upon by many almost in the same light as 
household work, and paid after the same rate : the tutor 
and the butler are looked upon alike as servants, and the 
master says, "I will give unto this last, even as unto 
thee!" 

"We can never degrade the teacher except at the expense 
of the person taught ; the shaft men so often cruelly let 
fly, will glance aside, and do some hurt to one they love. 
The teacher's mission is from God ; and whether this teach- 
ing be that of masters, and mistresses in their schools ; or 
that of the mother who clusters her little ones around her 
knee ; or that of the nurse, from whom the infant catches 
the first meaning of the different tones of the human voice ; 



122 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

it is a mission from God : it is ennobled by God — and, if 
it be carried on for God, it will, in eternity, take rank 
amid the great things which were done by God's people, 
in time. 

The victory which patient teaching has gained over an 
unruly spirit will be thought more of than the successful 
issue of the most protracted siege; the devices by which, 
with God's blessing, stubbornness of the disposition is 
melted, and through which the after life becomes full of 
holy deeds, will be magnified above all that the man of 
science has done in his laboratory ; above all that the skilled 
artizan has produced from his loom. Christ Himself will 
in eternity, as the One who was the Great Teacher, assume 
the headship of all who were teachers after His example, 
and for Him ; and will acknowledge as His brethren, in 
this respect, alike the apostle Paul, who wrote " many 
things hard to be understood," and the poorest Sunday 
school teacher, who could do little more than teach his 
infant class how to spell the name of Jesus. Jesus, verily, 
will not be ashamed to call them all brethren ; they will 
be accounted the members of a body, of which He is the 
head. 

Surely such a consideration as this, should cheer the 
heart of many, who are now, it may be, almost tempted to 
despond. To flesh and blood much of their work is unin- 
teresting ; and many of those upon whom they have to 
carry it on, are disappointing and provoking ; but whether 
they succeed, or whether they do not, if they be teaching 
as unto the Lord, they are one, in work and interest, with 
Jesus ; and every hour spent in labor, and every effort 
made, shall hereafter be acknowledged by Him. 

Let us now, however, turn from the general subject of 



TEACHING. 123 

the ministry of teaching, to some of the particulars con- 
nected with it. Several are suggested to our notice by the 
passage immediately under consideration. TVe are all 
familiar with the circumstances under which this psalm was 
written ; it is full of fearful realities : the realities of a 
broken heart ; of a deep view of the holiness of God : of the 
awful nature of sin ; there is a living personal earnestness, 
running through it all, which many, perhaps, of ourselves, 
have unwittingly acknowledged, by choosing it as the form 
of words, in which we confessed before God, it may be, our 
general sinfulness, or more probably, some recent, some 
decided sin. « 

It is in a psalm of this character, we find the words, 
" Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways;" and 
coming, as these words do, after the petitions, that God 
would "restore to the Psalmist the joy of His salvation, 
and uphold him with His free Spirit, " we have brought 
before us the great fact, that the Psalmist's teaching will 
be from experience ; out of the fulness of his own knowledge 
of God, he will minister in teaching to others. 

We will now assume that the duty of ministering in 
teaching, is recognised by each of our readers ; that you, 
dear reader, wish to fulfil the whole will of God ; and this 
as well as anything else. Let me, then, direct your atten- 
tion to the great importance of teaching out of your own 
personal experience ; of using your experience for this 
purpose, and not letting it lie idle. Experience is accounted 
precious in the world; the man that has it, turns it to 
account; it is precious, also in the spiritual world ; and he 
who has it, may do good service with it for God. Even 
the dark experience which a man, unhappily, has had of 
sin, may be overruled and sanctified, and a jewel be drawn 



124 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

forth from it, just as a precious stone is often drawn from 
the depths and recesses of a gloomy mine. The precious 
stone is unconnected with the darkness of the min^ but it 
comes forth from it ; the experience, also, is unconnected 
with the sin, though it is from it that it is brought out. 

Of course no one will misunderstand what I say, and 
suppose that we would recommend men to do evil that 
good may come. What we say is this — it seems to be 
ever the way of God, to draw forth life from death ; this 
He does continually, in the natural world; and by the 
operation of His wonderful power, and goodness, He does 
the like in the spiritual world*, Death is from man, for 
sin was his and death came by sin; but resurrection is 
from God ; so sin is of man, the overruling of it is of God ; 
the terrible fall is from himself; the sanctified experience 
from it, is of the Holy Ghost. And so is the using of that 
experience also. And what are all the records of the sins 
of the saints, which we find given us in the Scriptures by 
the Spirit, but His use of man's dark experience of sin to 
warn and teach whoever reads; " These things are written 
for our learning." 

Well, then, dear reader, let us use our own experience, 
and that of others, for the purposes of teaching. Those 
experiences may be dark ones, of the evil, and chastise- 
ment, and misery of sin ; or they may be bright ones, of 
the blessedness of serving God, and of His faithfulness, 
and truth, and love; but whatever they are, let us not 
permit them to lie idle. Let us use our own dark ex- 
perience, to warn others, or to make us pray for them ; 
we shall have opportunities enough of doing so, if we 
will. Perhaps those opportunities will be afforded, even 
amongst those who are near and dear to us, in our daily 



TEACHING. 125 

life. When we see any one hastening to the brink of the 
pit, into which we have fallen, and in which we have 
suffered hurt, let us give him the benefit of our experi- 
ence, and, if possible, save him before he plunge in. 
And if, junhappily, we cannot do this, oh ! remembering 
what we suffered ourselves, let us pray him out of the pit 
if we can; let us stand at the mouth of it, and, out of 
our own experiences, teach him the only way of escape, 
and, it may be, we shall be the means of rescuing his soul. 

Sin is no talent, but the sanctified experience of a sin- 
ner, is. Let us use it, along with all other talents, for the 
One to whom we must give account. A little thought, and 
searching our own hearts, will shew us how we can in this 
particular way, teach for God. If we have had experience 
of gross sin in any form, the way of doing so presents 
itself, only too plainly, before our eyes ; but even if we 
have not, we need not be at any loss. 

Let the mother who was snared in her own young days, 
by the love of human approbation, teach her children out 
of the depth of her own experience ; and from their young- 
est days, instruct them to look up to the highest standard 
of praise, the approbation of their God. Let her shew 
them that one approving word from Jesus, yea, one sent 
from Him to them through their own consciences, is better 
than man's superficial admiration, man's most fulsome 
praise. Let the one who set her heart too fondly upon 
human love, only to find that in her case the fair vision was 
a mirage, the illusive lakes and fountains of which, had not 
one real drop to slake her parching thirst, teach those who 
come within her circle of influence, out of the depths of her 
own wilderness experiences ; and let her hand, wasted it 
may be with life's fever, point others to that One who is 



126 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

the water of life, at which not only the immortal spirit, but 
even the human affections of the hea,rt, can drink and be 
refreshed. 

Whoever has yielded to pride, or vanity, or worldliness, 
or selfishness, or foolish habits of thought, or any such like 
things, can minister out of their experience to others ; and 
do it with the earnestness which experience gives. Who 
can warn the careless boy, who crowds canvas upon his 
fragile boat, so well as he who has been himself upset, and 
snatched, as it were, from the very jaws of a watery 
death ? Who can warn the child of the danger of eating 
the bright, but poisoned berry, so well as he who had tasted 
once of the tempting bait, and had writhed in agony from 
its subtle power, and escaped from its influence barely with 
his life ? None will be so well able to point out pure gold 
as they who had once believed that all was gold that glit- 
tered, but who have now found out their mistake by having 
become the victims of many a cheat. Let us give our chil- 
dren, and those with whom from time to time we come in 
contact, the benefit of our experiences, so far as opportunity 
is afforded ; and perhaps from our sorrows they may reap a 
harvest of joys. 

And just one word upon those blessed experiences of 
which the Psalmist speaks in the verse immediately preced- 
ing the text. ' ' Restore unto me the joy of Thy salva- 
tion, and uphold me with Thy free spirit" Whatever 
be our blessed, experiences, let us put them out to interest 
for God ; let us use them for Him, let us teach out of them. 

If so be we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, let us 
teach others of Him as we have found Him ; if He have 
restored us after we have fallen, let us teach other fallen 
ones that He is willing to restore them ; if He have sue- 



TEACHING. 127 

cored us in our day of trial, either of body or of soul, let 
us teach others out of our own experience, and cheer them 
with the knowledge that the Lord is gracious. " Blessed 
be God," (say^ the apostle, in 2 Cor. i, 3,) " even the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and 
the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribu- 
lation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in 
any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are 
comforted of God. ' ' 

If we have been in the garden of the Lord, oh, let us 
win others thither, by telling them out of our own expe- 
rience, how ripe are its fruits, how cool its shade; that 
there we found the One of whom it is written, " I sat under 
His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to 
my taste." (Canticles ii, 3.) 




8tw "i rat" &f wmmm. 

(continued.) 

Psalm li, 13. " TJien will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners 
shall oe converted unto Tliee." 

)HE idea of teaching generally includes that of toil. 
There are, no doubt, many cases when the apti- 
tude and intelligence of the pupil make teaching 
a pleasant work ; but this must be ta,ken as the 
exception, and not the rule. Teaching generally involves 
self-denial, as well as toil. Every good and successful 
teacher has been a painstaking and self-denying man ; doing 
more than his bare duty called upon him to do, and not 
measuring his exertions simply by his hire. If we might 
speak of God after the manner of men, He also seems to 
have taken great pains in teaching the children of men. 

Now what I desire to treat of in the present chapter 
is: — 

I. The painstaking which should be found in all teach- 
ing undertaken for God. And 

II. The necessity of doing the Lord's work fully ; 
not picking and choosing as we like, hut taking it as He 
presents it to us. 

There should be painstaking in all teaching for God. We 
should be very cautious how we treat as a light thing our 



TEACHING. 129 

ministry of Teaching. That teaching may be in a great 
congregation, or in a Sunday school, or in our own domestic 
circle, or perhaps the object of it may be only some one or 
two friends, who are looking up to us for instruction : but 
whether those who are taught be high or low, many or few, 
rich or poor, what our hand findeth to do we should do with 
our might : though we were but teaching, as it were, the 
alphabet of religion, we should take pains. The pains con- 
nected with teaching may be divided into two classes ; the 
passive pains of what we have to undergo; the active pains 
of what we have to do. 

There is a grea-t deal to be undergone in teaching. "We 
have to bear ivith much. The stupidity, the inaptitude 
to learn, the inattention, the forgetfulness, the wayward- 
ness of those we have to teach, are so many dead weights 
which we have to bear. We are but flesh and blood, and 
these things weary us, and undoubtedly make our work far 
harder than otherwise it would be. 

Let me remind you, dear readers, that Jesus, the Great 
Teacher, and I hope I may say your great example, had 
to bear with all this ; and let me remind you further, that 
all these are so many trials of endurance ; and that the en- 
durance of the saints will add to the lustre and glory of 
their crown. There is a reward for endurance, as well as 
action. 

Have we not many instances in Holy Scripture of Christ's 
endurance in this point ? Instead of reviling his disciples 
for their stupidity, hear how he speaks to them in Matt, 
xv, 16 : " And Jesus said, Are ye yet without understand- 
ing? do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth 
in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into 
the draught ?" And again in chap, xvi, 6 : " Then Jesus 



130 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among 
themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread : 
which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, ye of 
little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have 
brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither re- 
member the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many 
baskets ye took up ? Neither the seven loaves of the four 
thousand, and how many baskets ye took up ? How is it 
that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you con- 
cerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees ? Then understood they 
how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, 
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." 
And again in John xi, 11 : " These things said He : and 
after that He saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleep- 
eth : but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then 
saith His disciples, Lord, if he sleep he shall do well. 
Howbeit Jesus spake of his death ; but they thought that 
He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus 
unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for 
your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may 
believe ; nevertheless let us go unto him." Surely the dis- 
ciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his 
Lord ! Wherever we look we find that endurance in toil 
meets with its reward. The greatest discoveries and inven- 
tions have been the fruits of long endurance. At times, 
men seemed to have the object they desired within their 
grasp ; and then, it receded from them : and with this dis- 
appointment came also the temptation to give up : but they 
endured and gained their end at last. In education, above 
all things, endurance is needed, and is sure to produce its 



TEACHING. 131 

results. Patient endurance in teaching has accomplished 
more than even the most sanguine could have dared to 
hope. 

At the great day, there will doubtless be seen many 
wonderful results of simple endurance in ministry ; in the 
ministry of Teaching, and of Testimony. Great things 
will be found to have been accomplished, without any 
shining talent, or extraordinary opportunities ; with nothing 
but "the patient continuance in well doing." Our fellow 
men may have looked upon us, as having a claim to no 
higher character, than that of a persevering, patient plod- 
der, in the path of duty or of love ; they may have despised 
our want of brilliancy and talent ; we may ourselves have 
felt painfully conscious, that in these things we have been 
far inferior to others ; but the reward for patient endurance 
in labor will, in all probability, be greater than that for 
the bare use of any talent we might have possessed. It 
may have been positive enjoyment to use a talent : but it is 
seldom or never any enjoyment to endure : the results 
produced by the sheer exercise of endurance, will be 
acknowledged to have been purchased at a higher price, 
than those which have been produced by the exercise of 
talent. This assuredly ought to be no slight encourage- 
ment to those who are possessed of no shining talents, 
Such persons can do something. They can endure in 
some humble sphere of labor, for Christ ; and by such 
endurance not only act like Him, but also act for Him. 
Their talent may be of no more power in itself, than the 
single drops w T hioh trickle down the surface of the rock ; 
but if they, by continuance, can leave a record of their pro- 
gress, in the channel which they wear away, oh ! surely, 
so can the feeble talent, ever at work, win a record of its 



132 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

endurance, ay, in what will prove more indestructible 
than the hardest rock itself.^ 

These, and such as these make up what might be called 
the passive pains of teaching ; there are others which are 
active, and therefore more acute. 

In teaching, we must condescend. We are now, of course, 
concerned only with spiritual things : and all our remarks 
must have reference to them. Unless we condescend to men 
of low estate in knowledge, we shall often not be able to 
accomplish anything for the soul. There are few who are 
engaged in spiritual teaching who have not, from time to 
time, been astonished at the dense ignorance with which they 
have come into contact ; even in the cases of men who 
received credit for knowing something of the truths of God. 
I am not referring now to ignorance on prophetical views, 
or abstruse points of doctrine ; but upon fundamental 
points. We frequently find instances where men are very 
misty upon the great doctrine of justification by faith; and 
still more misty upon the decided distinction, between justi- 
fication and sanctification ; and the relationship which they 
bear, the one to the other. Upon all this we ourselves may 
be perfectly clear, we may without intending so to do, 
almost look down on those who are misty and confused; it 
is one of those cases in which we must condescend ; milk is 
needed, and we must feed with milk, and not with meat. 

* The following fact should be remembered by such as are inclined to 
despair. "When the celebrated Mr. Milne, the missionary, was preach- 
ing, not long before he left England, in the pulpit of his pastor, Mr. 
Cowie of Huntley, an old man belonging to the church was observed to 
weep very much. On being questioned as to the cause, he said, ' I 
remember the day when I took William Milne by the shoulders and 
turned him out of the Sunday school \ for his inveterate obstinacy and 
stupidity.' ,? 



TEACHING. 133 

Or the ignorance may be in spiritual practice. A man may 
have received the truth in his head, but the measure of his 
heart's sanctification may be small; the tone of his spiritual 
life may be low: he may be allowing himself in that which 
we consider no Christian man should: this is another case 
where we must condescend. Our duty, under such circum- 
stances, is to teach a man what is better, what is right : to 
stoop to him, to enlighten his ignorance, and not to despise 
him, or pass him by, or think him not worth teaching, be- 
cause his point of attainment is so far beneath our own. 
We never stoop to bless another, without picking up a 
blessing for ourselves : we can never water without being 
watered: we can never teach without being taught. Here 
again Jesus comes forward as an example. When Philip 
said to Jesus, i: Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth 
us," Jesus condescends to His disciple's ignorance and an- 
swers, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast 
thou not known Me. Philip? he that hath seen Me hath 
seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then Shew us the 
Father ?" John xiv, 9. When the sorrowing disciples 
journeyed with Him to Emmaus, they said, -'But we trusted 
that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel ; 
and besides all this, to-day is the third day since these 
things were done.' 7 Then He condescended to their igno- 
ranee: and though He said unto them, " fools and slow 
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought 
net Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into 
His glory?*' still He fulfilled towards them His ministry 
of teaching ; for, "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, 
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things 
concerning Himself.*' Luke xxiv, 27. 

Let this, then, encourage us to condescend to teach the 



18i MINIS THY AND TESTIMONY. 

rudiments, the alphabet of religion. Let this induce the 
preacher of the gospel to take up, from time to time, the 
very plainest things ; and to dwell upon the first principles 
of our most holy faith; and let it induce the man of intellect, 
or the man of spiritual attainment, not to despise an 
humble scholar, whether it be in a Sunday school, or in 
a cottage, or amongst his own children or servants at home. 
If his Father stoop from heaven, surely he may stoop on 
earth ; it may be that as the Christian rises he will lift up 
some fellow- Christian from his low estate, at least to the 
level of himself. On the day of death, in his eightieth year, 
Elliott, "the apostle of the Indians," was found teaching 
the alphabet to an Indian child at his bedside. "Why not 
rest from your labors now?" said a friend. "Because," 
said the venerable man, "I have prayed to God to render 
me useful in my sphere. He has heard my prayer ; for 
now that I can no longer preach, he leaves me strength 
enough to teach this poor child his alphabet." 

And in this ministry of teaching, let us be willing often 
to go back, and to go over the same ground again and 
again. In many cases this is absolutely necessary; the 
desired effect cannot otherwise be produced, This the 
painter has to do with his pictures; this the husbandman has 
to do with his crops ; this God Himself has done with us. 
If we have attained to anything, has it not been by God's 
teaching its the same thing over and over again ? Have 
we not continually forgotten even what we seemed to have 
learned ? Has He not had to repeat not only old lessons 
but old chastisements? All this was God's taking pains with 
us ; and as He has not thrown us off in our stupidity, we 
must not throw others off in theirs. Their precious souls 



TEACHING. 135 

are worth the pains; let us take them freely and patiently; 
perhaps we shall have a great result.^ 

Let me point out also the great necessity of not over- 
driving in religious knowledge. There are many who can 
take in religious knowledge only very slowly; we may 
force them on ; we may give them a head knowledge of great 
and even deep truths ; but they will be like a house run up 
in haste, and therefore unsubstantial ; they will be like a 
tree forced into bearing before its time, and whose fruit is 
not natural ; they will be like a child, upon whose weak 
body there has been placed a load, too heavy for it to bear. 
" I have fed you with milk, (said the Apostle,) and not 
with meat." The Apostle followed the example of his 
Lord, who said to His Apostles, " I have yet many things 
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now/' 

There is one point more upon which it will be well to 
add a few words, i. e. } the necessity of doing the Lord's 
work fully ; not picking and choosing as we like, but 
taking it as He presents it to us. 

The children of God may rest assured, that the Evil One 
will tempt them in their work, when he cannot tempt them 
from it ; a believer may, by the way in which he does 

* John Wesley's home education, under the tutelage of his parents them- 
selves, was peculiar, and well calculated to initiate him early in habits of 
order and perseverance in accomplishing any object he might undertake. 
" Why, my dear," said his father to his mother, while patiently teaching 
one of their children a simple lesson, which it was slow to learn, " why, 
my dear, do you tell that dull boy the same thing twenty times over ?" 
"Because," replied the other, "nineteen times won't do. If I tell him 
but nineteen times all my labor is lost, but the twentieth secures the 
object ! 

Zeuxis being asked why he was so long about a picture, answered, " I 
paint for eternity," 



136 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

work, afford Satan as great an opportunity of triumph, as 
if he had stood aloof from work altogether. 

There is a natural tendency in the heart of man, to 
shrink from what is painful, and burdensome ; and in 
almost every instance, he has fancies and preferences, 
which he wishes to indulge ; this tendency and these fan- 
cies manifest themselves in ministry and testimony, espe- 
cially in that of teaching. The minister and the district 
visitor may shrink from visiting the disagreeable people 
in their respective paths of duty, and give their attention 
to those with whom it may be pleasant to converse, and 
from whom, in point of fact, they may learn much them- 
selves ; the Sunday school teacher may decline to receive 
into her class some stupid or unprepossessing child, who 
should come into it in the ordinary routine of the school's 
periodic changes, or, perhaps she will visit during the week 
only the agreeable children or agreeable parents, or, should 
she be impelled, by a strong sense of duty, to receive the 
undesired child into her class, perhaps she will slur over 
her duties towards her, and take less pains with her than 
with the rest. Again, in the matter of his sermons, the 
minister may shrink from the rough hard work of dealing 
with unconverted men ; knowing well that distinctive 
preaching must bring with it observation, if not opposition, 
he may turn to a class of truths, which may at once edify 
the godly and leave the ungodly untouched ; he may fill 
into that dangerous system, too common in the present day, 
of calling all, " Christian brethren," and " beloved breth- 
ren," although they may be well known to be living in 
open and daring sin ; by so doing he is following his own 
choice and is not doing the Lord's work fully, he is choos- 
ing for himself, and he is almost certain to leave that in 



TEACHING. 137 

which, perhaps the greatest blessings would have been 
found. 

Had we the energy of Whitfield and Hill, and such men, 
displayed in the present day, results would doubtless appear 
akin to those which followed their ministry ; but he who 
will minister thus, must expect to be called " an enthu- 
siast," " a ranter," '-anew light," and he may consider 
that he has got off well if this be all.* The thin-skinned 
preacher will bleed at every scratch ; and yet, for my part, 
I have always found those men most respected, and even 
most followed, who have not paid respect to any person, 
who have said what they thought, and nailed their colors 

* "When Pickthank had told his tale" against Faithful, in the Pil- 
grim's Progress, "the judge directed his speech to the prisoner at the bar 
saying, ' Thou runagate, heretic, and traitor, hast thou heard what these 
honest gentlemen have witnessed against thee?' And when the jury 
went out, whose names were Mr. Bhndman, Mr. No-GTood, Mr. Malice, 
Mr. Love-lust, Mr. Live-loose, Mr. Heady, Mr. High-mind, Mr. Enmity, 
Mr. Liar, Mr. Cruelty, Mr. Hate-light, and Mr. Implacable, every one 
gave in his private verdict against him among themselves, and afterwards 
unanimously concluded to bring him in guilty before the judge. And 
first amongst themselves Mr. Blindman the foreman, said, I see clearly 
that this man is a heretic. Then said Mr. No -good, away with such a 
fellow from the earth. Aye, said Mr. Malice, for I hate the very look of 
him. Then said Mr. Love-lust, I could never endure him. Nor I. said 
Mr. Live -loose, for he would be always condemning my way. Hang 
him, said Mr. Heady. A sorry scrub, said Mr. High-mind. My heart 
riseth against him, said Mr. Enmity. He is a rogue, said Mr. Liar. 
Hanging is too good for him, said Mr. Cruelty. Let us despatch him out 
of the way, said Mr. Hate-light. Then said Mr. Implacable, Might I have 
all the world given me, I could not be reconciled to him ; therefore let 
us forthwith bring him in guilty of death." 

Christians who are in testimony for G-od, do not always hear the 
world's, and perhaps their own ungodly neighbors' opinions of them, but 
the above would salute their ears full often, if men spoke out what they 
inwardly think, and what they say amongst themselves. 



138 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

to the mast. Even the world honors consistency and 
courage, and the plainest speaker will have, in general, 
the most hearers. The only part by which a bull can be 
safely taken is by the horns. 

The energy of manner of the late Roland Hill, and the 
power of his voice, are said to have been at times over- 
whelming. While once preaching at Wootton-under-Edge, 
his country residence, he was carried away by his feelings, 
and, raising himself to his full height, exclaimed, " Be- 
ware, I am in earnest ; men call me an enthusiast, but I am 
not ; mine are the words of truth and soberness. When 
I first came into this part of the country, I was walking on 
yonder hill; I saw a gravel pit fall in and bury three 
human beings alive. I lifted up my voice so loud that I 
was heard to the town below, a distance of a mile. Help 
came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called 
ipe an enthusiast then ; and when I see eternal destruction 
ready to fall upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them 
irrevocably in an eternal mass of woe, and call on them to 
escape by repenting and fleeing to Christ, shall I be called 
an enthusiast ? No, sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so 
doing." A shipbuilder on being asked what he thought 
of Whitfield, replied, " Every Sunday that I go to my 
parish church I can build a ship from stem to stern under 
the sermon ; but under Mr. Whitfield I could not lay a 
single plank." 

In all ministry, whether its special development be 
teaching, or anything else, Christ Jesus is to be our exam- 
ple. And what is the example which He sets us here ? 
Jesus did his Father's work fully ; He shrank from no part 
of it ; He did not decline any portion of it ; He came into 
contact with sinners ; yea, He died with one on the right 



TEACHING. 139 

hand, and another on the left. If any one was warranted 
in declining contact with the sinner, that one, assuredly, 
was Christ. Sin was to Him essentially odious ; odious 
in a way in which it never can be to us : we cannot know 
its depths — He did ; we cannot detect the individuals in 
whom its worst developments are dwelling — He knew them 
as soon as they came near Him ; moreover, our nature 
being sinful in itself, does not recoil instinctively, as His 
did, when evil is at hand. The presence of sin was suf- 
fering to Him — it is not always so to us; the presence 
of sin could not lie hidden from Him — it may be wholly 
undetected by us. When we think of all this, and then, 
that the testimony concerning Him was, "This man re- 
ceiveth sinners, and eateth with them," how can we pre- 
tend to be in ministry, after His example, and yet act alto- 
gether differently from the way in which He did. 

Jesus never shrank from any sinner, when He could 
minister to him in teaching. True ! He left the Pharisees, 
and Sadducees, and Scribes, and such like cavillers, who 
wanted to gainsay, and not to be taught ; but He went out 
into the highways of life ; He conversed with the worst He 
found there, and invited them to come in. Zaccheus found 
Jesus willing to look upon him ; the Samaritan woman 
found him willing to converse with her ; and again and 
again did He return to minister to, and to teach the crowd ; 
to bear with the captious questions of some, with the hard 
unbelief and pitiless scorn of others. How could He have 
been the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, if He 
had so chosen His path in life as not to touch one piercing 
thorn, or tread upon one rough-edged stone ? 

And as Jesus did, so did His a,postles also. They verily 
did not pretend to choose the smooth : they certainly did 



140 MINISTRY AND TESTIMONY. 

not pretend to avoid the rough. Had they done so, they 
need not have gone through their great fight of afflictions ; 
we may also add, their ministry would have been without 
its glorious results. 

Common observation ought to teach us how impossible it 
is to avoid the rough, if we would succeed in any great 
enterprise. No conqueror brings to a successful issue the 
war in which he is engaged, without encountering many 
difficulties ; and those, over and above what he has to meet 
on the field of bloody strife itself. No sailor can bring his 
vessel to port, after a long voyage, without having had to 
weather some storms, and reef his sails in some tempestuous 
gales. The shopkeeper, in his daily transactions of busi- 
ness, has to take the rough with the smooth ; th.£ artizan 
must do the same, even with the material upon which he 
works. Shall the Christian be the only one who is exempted 
from all rough work, and who is not to be called upon for 
an exercise of patience and of skill ? Let the Christian 
know that much of this rough work from which he shrinks, 
is absolutely necessary for his soul's health. Carefully 
refined food would be deleterious to the body ; and God has 
mixed the coarse and fine in due proportions, so that both 
together nourish and expand the frame ; and so, carefully 
refined circumstances, and spheres of action, would be dele- 
terious to the soul, and God has mingled the rough and 
smooth : and he who takes them as God gives them, will 
be robust in his spiritual frame, and well developed in all 
the graces of the soul. For our own sakes, then, dear 
reader, let us not reject anything whereunto we are called ; 
let us not look for fancy spheres of duty, fancy school chil- 
dren, fancy sick people, fancy poor people ; picked cases 
for our convenience, or, to speak more plainly, for our 



TEACHING. 141 

sloth ; rather let us be prepared to endure hardness, for 
Christ ; let us simply ask that our sphere, and all in it, be 
allotted by the one whose we are. and whom we wish to 
serve ; and let us go forth to fill it, saying determinately, 
in the strength of the Holy Ghost, " I will." 



apr, 



Psalm xxviii, 1. " Unto Thee icill I cry, Lord, my rock; he not silent 
to me : lest, if Thou be silent to me, 1 become like them that go doivn into the 

pit:' 

Psalm lv, 16, It. " As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall 
save me. Evening and morning, and at noon, ivill I pray, and cry aloud : 
and He shall hear my voice." 

Psalm lxi, 2. " From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my 
heart is overwhelmed : lead me, to the rock that is higher than I." 

Psalm lxiii. 1. li God, Thou art ray God; early will I seek TJiee: my 
soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for TJiee in a dry and thirsty la?id, 
where no water is." 

Psalm Ixxxvi, 1. u In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for 
Thou wilt answer me" 

Psalm cxxi, 1. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the MUs, from whence 
cometh my help" 




E hear much, we see much of the mighty powers 
j) which God has put into the hands of man, as 
regards the natural world. Wheresoever we 
turn, we find ourselves surrounded with the evi- 
dences of this power in construction, in invention, and in 
imitation. Scarce a day passes in which we are not pre- 
sented with something which has more or less of the claims 
of novelty ; with some new discovery, or else some applica- 
tion or combination of powers already known. To this, 
man is not blind ; he appreciates, he uses every new and 
mighty engine, as it is presented to him : and whether it be 
chloroform, to blunt the acuteness of his pain ; or electricity, 
to flash his messages to the ends of the world ; or steam, to 
whirl him over the earth's surface, and do in his factories 
the work of thousands of hands ; he hears, sees, speaks 
about, and uses the mighty powers which God has put 
within his reach. 

We hear but little, however, of the mighty powers which 
God has put into man's hands, so far as the spiritual world 
is concerned. The prevailing aspect of God's people is one 
of weakness, often one of despondency ; they feel the pres- 
sure of the world, they see difficulties to be overcome, they 
realize their own inherent weakness — there is much despon- 
dency, by reason of the realization of their own feebleness ; 

V 



146 PRAYER. 

there is little "vigor, by reason of the non-realization of the 
mighty efficacy of faith and prayer. . 

Faith and Prayer ! Could we but realize, and put into 
operation, the powers contained in these, the two great 
forces of the spiritual world, we should, in our collective 
and individual capacity, be very different from what we are ; 
we should know and feel that we had the key of heaven's 
treasure, and the lever of heaven's strength ; we should 
" be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might;" 
we should be prepared for great deeds, both of action and 
resistance, in the spiritual life ; we should never dream of 
failure, we should never miss real success. The Lord give 
you, dear reader, power in prayer. 

Now, first of all, it will be encouraging to note some of 
the Scripture statements, which show the power that God 
has linked in prayer. 

u Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and 
he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : and it rained 
not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." 
James v, 17. 

" Elijah cried unto the Lord, and said, Lord my God, 
hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I 
sojourn, by slaying her son ? And he stretched himself 
upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and 
said, Lord my God, I pray Thee, let this child's soul 
come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of 
Elijah ; and the soul of the child came into him again." 
1 Kings xvii, 20—22. 

" Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is 
nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with 
them that have no power : help us, Lord our God ; for 
we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this mul- 



PRAYER. 147 

titude. Lord, Thou art our God ; let not man prevail 
against Thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before 
Asa. and before Judah ; and the Ethiopians fled." 2 
Chron. xiv, 11, 12. 

11 Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, that Thou 
wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that 
Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep 
me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted 
him that which he requested." 1 Chron. iv, 10. 

" The angel said unto Zacharias, Fear not, Zacharias : 
for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear 
thee a son." Luke i, 13. 

" Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray 
unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek 
Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all 
your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord : 
and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you 
from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have 
driven you, saith the Lord ; and I will bring you again into 
the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive." 
Jer. xxix, 12 — 14. 

li And he said, Lord, God of my master Abraham, I 
pray Thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness 
unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand, by the well of 
water * * * and let it come to pass, that the damsel to 
whom I shall say, l Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that 
I may drink ;' and she shall say, ' Drink, and I will give 
thy camels drink also :' let the same be she that Thou hast 
appointed for Thy servant Isaac : and thereby shall I know 
that Thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it 
came to pass, before he had done speaking, that Rebekah 
came out," &c. Gen. xxiv, 12 — 15. 



148 PRAYER. 

These are some examples of the power of prayer, but 
Scripture might be said to teem with them in almost every 
page. 

Wonderful, indeed, is what can be done by prayer. By 
it the hungry have been fed, and the naked clothed, and the 
sick healed ; heaven has been unlocked, and hell shut up : 
by it God's people have been strengthened, and their enemies 
weakened ; brands, half burnt, have been plucked from the 
fire ; and difficulties, otherwise insurmountable, have been 
overcome : great battles have been won by it ; great loads 
have been moved by it ; great burdens have been sustained 
by it ; and yet, is it not wonderful, that, although we know 
all this, we often have to drag ourselves to prayer, and feel 
listless and heartless when on our knees? Satan knows the 
power of prayer, and doubtless does all he can to weaken 
us in it, to make it a burden to us. Good need has the 
man of God to make a determination, and say " I will." 

It may not be amiss to say a few words upon the nature 
of the prayer oif which we are now about to dwell. 

How comes a man to pray at all? ' The light of nature ' 
will teach a man to pray. Some pray to the sun and moon, 
some to the devil, some to angels and saints, and to the 
virgin Mary ; with scarce an exception, all members of the 
human family have some object to which they pray. But 
in addition to this, the teaching of the light of nature, there 
is 'the teaching of parents. 7 We are from infancy taught 
to pray ; almost all of us, as soon as we are able to lisp 
anything, begin to say some form of prayer. Advanced as 
the reader may now, perhaps, be in life, be may possibly 
remember the time when he knelt at his mother's knee, and 
uttered, after her, the first petitions which he addressed to 



PRAYER. 149 

the throne of grace. How often do these early memories 
cling to us, when the intervening events of life fade and 
pass away ! 

I would address a word or two to mothers, upon this all- 
important subject, of their children's prayers. We con- 
tinually find children taught a certain form of prayer, which 
they unvaryingly repeat, morning and evening ; and which 
only, too often, becomes a mere matter of repetition, a form 
of words. This may be, this doubtless, is, productive of 
mischievous consequences ; a child becomes insensibly a 
mere piece of machinery, performing its accustomed round 
of work : or a parrot repeating certain sentences which it 
does not understand. That a child should in part be taught 
what to say, is very right ; but the evil consists in confining 
it to the form. Let us remember that a child lives in a 
perfect little world of its own ; that it has its griefs and 
joys, which are as real as our own — as important to it, as 
ours are to us ; it has its little wants, desires, and fears ; 
and to repress its prayers on all these subjects, and turn 
them into another channel, is to introduce the leaven of 
unreality, into the very beginning of its spiritual life. Let 
prayer, above all things, be real ; let a child mean what it 
says ; let it have an interest in the prayer it offers up ; let 
it not be forced to say prayers about things which it can- 
not understand, and in which it cannot possibly take any 
interest. For my own part, I should much rather hear my 
child pray to God, with all her heart that to-morrow might 
be a fine day, so that she may be able to enjoy an expected 
treat, than to hear her utter some words about the conver- 
sion of the heathen, or a similar subject, which, from her 
age, she could not possibly understand. 

If I might make a suggestion to parents upon this sub- 



150 PRAYER. 

ject, I would say, when your child has uttered its simple 
form of prayer, every word of which you should take care 
that it understands, not only permit, but encourage it to 
offer up prayer to God in its own words, and about its own 
interests. Do not be shocked, or offended, if the request 
be about a trifle ; remember that trifles are the great events 
of a child's life ; a broken wheel of a little cart is as im- 
portant to it, as the breaking of a bank may be to you. 
Because the child is a child, its little sorrows are real to 
it ; let its prayers be real too. ; then it will grow up with a 
real interest in prayer ; it will look upon prayer as a prac- 
tical working thing ; it will, in all probability, escape 
much of that formalism which is so detrimental, so danger- 
ous to the soul. A parent will, of course, shew a child 
when and where its petitions are not right ; but, above all 
things, take care that the child understands. 

" Conventional habit" has also something to do with 
prayer. Public worship, and family worship, and morning 
and evening prayer are, to a certain extent, customary ; 
thus people get into what might be called the routine of say- 
ing prayers; and this "prayer saying" is, often, only too 
like any of the other customs of daily life ; it would be 
missed because itJs a custom ; it would be missed from the 
outer, but not from the inner life of man. 

It will be readily understood that it is not such prayer we 
have now to consider. That which alone is worthy of the 
name of prayer is something widely different ; it is the 
fruit of the operation of the Holy Ghost within the heart ; 
it is a reality derived from personal need ; it is soul work. 

And what are we to say of such prayer as this ? Is it 
not that the child of God has, very often, to put a holy vio- 
lence upon himself to bring himself thus to pray ? It may 



PRAYER. 151 

seem anomalous, but so it is ; the Christian has often to be 
very determined with himself to bring himself to his knees, 
to make him avail himself of the privileges and blessing of 
prayer. It may not be amiss to consider, a little more at 
large, these impediments of which we have to complain. 

The first to be noticed is 

Natural Inaptitude. By nature we are unapt to pray, 
we have no natural drawings to this holy exercise, we turn 
against it. How often have we experienced this inaptitude 
ourselves ? our souls have been as sickly and disinclined 
for prayer, as the body often is sickly and disinclined for 
food ; we have turned from it, happy are we if we have not 
turned against it. It is by no means uncommon to hear 
true Christian people complain, that for many days they 
have not been really able to pray. They knew not why, 
they could not even guess why ; but their hearts were dull 
and cold, and refused to respond to anything save the stern 
command of duty. All this is lamentable, no one laments 
it more than the Christian himself; experience, however, 
shows us that it is true, and Natural Inaptitude must be 
numbered amongst our serious impediments to prayer. 

To know this, may be of itself of no inconsiderable value 
to the striving, and perhaps sorrowing, child of God. 
Instead of going to pray in his own strength, and expecting 
the power of prayer to keep alive within him simply from 
his own habit of praying, the Christian will say, " I need 
continual influencings of the Holy Ghost, I need an energy 
which will counterbalance the inertium of my own nature, 
I need a gift of prayer, I need something above nature, 
even springs and impulses from heaven.** It is under the 
blessed influences of such impulses that we shall say ' '" I 
will '* in this matter of prayer, and not only say it, but act 



152 PRAYER. 

it also. We shall pray, despite our dull heavy natures ; 
we shall rise above the weight of the flesh and all belonging 
to it, its dull and heavy inertium will be overcome. 

Some there are who are often kept from prayer by the 
great difficulty they experience in putting their thoughts 
into the form of words. This inaptitude is used by the 
Evil One, to act upon the soul and further his designs 
with reference to increasing the difficulty of prayer. Men 
are ashamed of the poverty of their language, they are 
oppressed with the difficulty of clothing their ideas, and so 
they are often restrained from prayer. Now as God does 
not look at a man's clothes, but at the man himself, so he 
looks not at the words, but at the ideas and feelings of a 
man's prayer ; be the words never so poor He will under- 
stand them, He will never misunderstand them. 

Some years ago, one of the North American Indians, a 
chief, visited our country, and at several large meetings 
told his story. That story was given in something like the 
following words : — 

" I was a worshipper of the sun, and moon, and stars, 
some fourteen years ago, when I heard a missionary preach 
of a beautiful heaven, into which, he said, all the righteous 
should enter, and of a dreadful hell, into which all the 
wicked must be cast. I asked, ' Is there any chance of a 
Chippewa Indian getting to heaven ?' I was told, ' Oh yes, 
heaven is open to all who believe in Jesus, God's Son, if 
we come through Him we shall find a warm welcome and a 
ready entrance.' I was glad at this, for my sins began to 
trouble me ; I was like one of our Indian deer, when it is 
shot by the hunter ; it flies over the hills and prairies until 
it becomes weary with its exertions and faint with loss of 
blood ; it falls down, and turns first on one side, and then on 



P B A Y E K . 153 

the other side, and at last it dies. Thus it was with me. the 
pain in my heart rankled sorely, and I could get no rest from 
its smart. But I prayed to God : however, I thought God 
would only hear me if I prayed to Him in the English lan- 
guage. I did not know much English, but I said, l 
Christ, have mercy upon me, poor sinner, poor Indian.' 
About that time I was asked out to dine. Before dinner a 
blessing was asked in the English language, ' Ah,' I 
thought, l God understands that ;' but after dinner, thanks 
were returned in the Chippewa language, and I thought, 
1 If God understands your Chippewa, He will understand 
mine.' I went home, I crept up into a little hayloft, and 
in my native tongue I poured out my heart before the Lord, 
I said with Jacob, c Christ, I will not let Thee go 
except Thou bless me, and before the day broke, my heart 
was full of joy unspeakable and full of glory." The results 
of this prayer we cannot omit. " I then strove to make 
known to my fellow-men the blessedness of the Gospel I 
had received, I established a school, and, among other 
scholars, I had thirty married women, who taught their 
husbands at night what they had learned during the day. 
I had, however, but one spelling-book and one Testament. 
My spelling-book I took to pieces and gave a leaf to each 
scholar, my Bible was passed from hand to hand. Our 
progress was very slow, so I thought I would come to the 
country whence the Bibles came, to look out for help. 
And now, my dear friends, I have told my tale, and I want 
to ask you if you will give me some Bibles and spelling- 
books to take back to my dear children." 

The response of the hall to this appeal was, " We will ! 
we will !" And soon afterwards, freighted with a large 
supply, the Indian went back to his own country, and lived 



154 PRAYER. 

and labored for Christ. In " The Times" obituary there 
subsequently appeared the following brief record of his 
death : " Died, in North West America (on such a day), 
Eeter Jones, missionary and chief." 

Inherent Unbelief is another sore impediment to prayer. 
Now it might seem strange to speak of this, in connection 
with the children of God. If they be not believers, who 
are ? if they have not faith, who has ? They undoubtedly 
have faith, and in that faith, they live ; but with faith 
enough for eternal life, there exist, also, remnants enough 
of unbelief ; to vex and keep back the believer's soul in a 
thousand ways. Unbelief many a time keeps the believer 
from the throne of grace ; he wants something which he 
knows God can give him, but he has not the faith which 
can make him ask for it joyfully, because believingly, upon 
his knees. Oh ! if w r e had a living, ever present, full, rich 
faith, with what joy should we often pray ! We should be 
sure of being heard ; we should go to our knees in the full 
expectation of being about to receive some good thing. 
What keeps us back from large petitions ? What makes us 
pray with that feeling of insecurity, which causes wavering 
in prayer ; which makes us think that w T e are as unlikely, 
as likely, to get what we desire ? It is the remnant of un- 
belief. This unbelief takes the life out of many of our 
prayers; it shakes us, and gives us that feeling of uncer- 
tainty, which damps our earnestness ; it makes our hand too 
unsteady to lay hold of, and to bear away a full cup of 
blessing. And many a time, it keeps us from praying at 
all. Beca/use we are not sure of God's answering us, of 
course as He thinks best, but nevertheless of answering, we 
are daunted from trying, and unbelief gradually works it 



PRAYER. 155 

way, until it passes from the point in hand, to other things 
also, and does us amazing hurt. 

Must we not meet this unbelief with a brave and deter- 
mined " I Will ;" must we not meet it with a full resolu- 
tion to act against it? Surely, it does not become the Chris- 
tian, to succumb to this unbelief; to let it triumph over 
him: to let it keep him from prayer, by which alone the 
desired blessing is to be had ; let him now nerve himself for 
conflict: let him prepare himself to act. in spite of his un- 
belief; and coming determinately to prayer, in prayer he 
shall receive fresh strength ; in it his faith will grow, and 
the victory shall be obtained. There are remnants of un- 
belief, in the holiest of the saints of God, clinging to them 
even to the last ; and, as they mount higher and higher in 
their desires, seeking more and more from God, these rem- 
nants will endeavor to work hindrance to the spirits in its 
flights, and will call forth the believer's determined "I 
will." 

We must not suppose that unbelief is easily beaten out 
of the field ; it will try and hurt, so long as we are at this 
side of the grave. And it is well for us to be on our guard, 
with reference to this, for we are liable to be deceived ; even 
our very progress in faith may be used, by unbelief, to work 
out its own ends. 

The course of its proceeding will probably be this. We 
have attained to a certain measure of belief in prayer — we 
can pray for certain classes of things, fully believing that 
God will answer our prayer — we are happy in that faith — ■ 
we enjoy the comfort of it; and in doing so, will scarce 
believe that there is unbelief still within our heart. But, 
suddenly we are taken out of our accustomed beat and 
sphere in prayer; a fresh class of subjects comes before 



156 PRAYER. 

us; perhaps they involve our making larger requests of 
God, than have ever hitherto been the case; perhaps these 
requests require more immediate answers than any we have 
ever hitherto preferred ; they bring us more quickly to a 
point; they lead us into subjects in which there is not so 
much likelihood of an answer as there was in more ordinary 
things. Now we see how much unbelief clings around us 
still ; how, the moment our faith is led out of its accustomed 
beat, and made to stand upon its own resources, upon its 
inherent vitality and strength, it begins to waver ; it is good 
to be creatures of habit, in faith, but we must be something 
more also, or in sudden emergencies, in all higher flights, 
we shall fail. 

Thus, when we think well of our faith in prayer, we be- 
come tried, and are found to come short ; and hence, dear 
reader, the necessity for a stern, and determined "I will." 
"It is no use to pray about such and such a thing," says 
unbelief; u I will/' says the man of God ; and then, the battle 
with unbelief brings down upon the knees ; prayer after 
prayer, is troubled and weakened by it ; but in the power 
of the Spirit, the battle is fought, and the day is won. 
After this the Christian, in all probability, stands on ground 
higher than any on which he ever stood before ; and is found 
not only to have gained a victory in conflict, but also to 
have accumulated strength for some more stern combat yet 
to come. 

The natural tendency to do the most for ourselves, 
independently of God, is another great impediment to 
prayer ; for prayer is an acknowledgment of dependence ; 
and from this cause, also, the Christian is summoned to 
prepare himself to utter a determined "I will." 

An attempt at independence, was the ruin of our fore- 



PRAYER. 157 

father Adam : and it has ruined many of his sons. Inde- 
pendence of God is one development of pride ; and often- 
times, almost unknown to the believer, exists in him, to a 
greater or less degree. "I am rich, and increased with 
goods, and have need of nothing," is often said by one, who, 
in the estimation of Christ, is wretched, and miserable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked. Rev. iii, 17. 

We can easily understand, how a believer needs some 
degree of watchfulness over himself, in order to keep his 
heart determinately in a prayerful state. We are required, 
while in the flesh, to act — we have to think how to act — we 
have to follow, in our minds, the results of action — we have 
to appear, as prominent actors in the scenes of life ; and we 
have to do with others, who are tangible actors also ; more- 
over, we have natural energies and judgment; and we have 
appliances at hand, and so forth ; and the natural tendency 
of all these is, to make us busy in them, and in our efforts 
to help ourselves, and while thus engaged, to forget how 
much we need to be helped by God. 

There is something very sweet to the natural man, in 
independence ; and in so far as the Christian has remnants 
of the natural man, thus far will independence be sweet to 
him. Satan, who is ever ready to ground a temptation 
to evil upon a good foundation, or at least upon one seem- 
ingly good, is prepared to do so here. He says, " Why 
carry all those trumpery little things to God?" he says, 
" God meant you to help yourself, why don't you do so?" 
nnd he adds a great deal more of the same stamp. Of course 
he never tells us that God is our Father, and interested in 
the most minute of our affairs ; nor does he tell us, that He 
never intended us to put the machinery of life in the place 
of Himself, the great living, guiding power: nor, that acting 



158 PRAYER. 

without Him will soon lead us to acting independently of 
Him ; all this would be beside Satan's purpose; and under 
the pretence of cultivating a manly spirit of self-reliance, 
he will make us, if he can, live and move, and act, inde- 
pendently of God; of God sought, and acknowledged in 
prayer. 

It sometimes happens that God allows His people to try 
this independence — this w T as the case when the Gibeonites 
were received, as we read in Joshua ix, 14. "And the 
men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the 
mouth of the Lord." The result we know; they were mis- 
erably deceived. God will allow His people to be workmen 
under Him, but not independently of Him. And because 
of this, w r e must use these words, ." I will." " I will pray, 
in using such and such an instrument; I will pray for 
success and skill ; I will not allow myself to be led astray 
by the fairness of appearances ; I will not think that the 
end is secured, because the means for accomplishing it 
seem of surpassing strength ; I will not allow God to be 
hidden from mine eyes, by all these material things; I will 
use them in a spirit of prayer." 

Let us but observe, and act on this, and we shall find 
that we shall not be confounded. The God whom we 
practically acknowledge in prayer, will be sure to ac- 
knowledge us practically, by giving us cause for praise ; 
"in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct 
thy paths. 7 ' Prov. iii, 6. 

There is in man a natural tende?icy to keep from alone 
and immediate connection with God; and to overcome 
this, often requires the expressed determination, " I will." 

We have, in all probability, experienced something of 
this ourselves. In our hours of trial and difficulty, we 



PRAYER. 159 

have sought the sympathy of our fellow-man ; when evil 
tidings came, we have written off to some dear friend to 
come to us, or we have gone to him ; we had not as yet 
learned to go alone, and to go immediately, before God. 
It is not that at such times we desire to bear our sorrows 
by ourselves, for we seek for sympathy and support : nor 
is it that we want to hide tbem from God, and disconnect 
ourselves from Him ; it is simply that we have not attained 
to such a knowledge of Him, and such experiences of Him 
as our truest friend, as would draw us at once to Him, to 
tell Him everything, either about what we wish to do, or 
have to bear. Here we must bring in the determined " I 
will ;" we must say, " I ivill take counsel of Him in the 
solitude of prayer ; / will tell Him everything as it were, 
face to face ; I will do as Hezekiah did, I will spread my 
letter before the Lord." 

Did you ever, dear reader, spread a letter before the 
Lord; literally take the vexing sheet, and open it out 
before Him, and say to Him, " Behold, Lord, what I 
have received, and teach me what to do ; or help me that I 
may bear ; or give me wisdom that I may answer," as the 
case may be ? Few of our readers escape letters with evil 
tidings, letters of provocation^ or annoyance, or disappoint- 
ment; when the postman raps at the door, who can tell 
what tidings he brings ? There is but one way of being 
prepared for whatever the day may bring forth : it is by 
being able to refer all to God : by knowing that in humble 
trust we may bring everything before Him in prayer. 
This is the preparation of which the Psalmist speaks in 
Psalm cxii, 7. " He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; 
his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." We are prepared 
for everything, if we feel that we can bring all before the 



160 PRAYER. 

Most High ; if we can go in alone unto Him, and hear 
what He will say concerning it. Let me recommend you, 
dear reader, to go in with your letters before the Lord ; to 
spread them as literally before Him, as you would before a 
friend ; to point with your finger, as you pray, to the very 
passages which trouble you most ; and in such an exercise 
as this, there will be a reality which will speak even to 
your own soul. The matter will be between God and you : 
and you may be sure you will have a realization that it is 
so. But in order to pray thus, bringing yourself and your 
affairs into immediate connection with God, you must, by 
His grace, be a man of holy determination ; able in these 
matters to say, "I Will." 

There is yet one point more upon which it will be well 
to touch, as calling for this fixed determination in prayer. 
We are sometimes backward because of our own known, 
and felt, imperfection in prayer. Man is generally averse 
to doing what he does with difficulty, or what he feels he 
does badly; and this natural feeling enters into prayer. 
We often "feel discouraged, when we think of our lukewarm- 
ness and our wandering in prayer ; we feel at times it is 
only mockery or formality to pray, when we think how 
miserable our prayers are ; and Satan is sure to help on 
such thoughts as these, and say, " God will not listen to 
you," and " if you can do no better than you have done 
lately, you may as well let prayer alone." The conse- 
quence is, that the Christian very often is put on a wrong 
tack altogether ; he waits until he can work himself up 
into a better frame of mind for prayer, until he thinks he 
can pray better; and while thus engaged, with his mind 
turned in upon himself, he gets weaker instead of stronger, 
which is precisely the result that Satan wishes to bring about. 



PRAYER. 161 

Dear reader, be encouraged to come to God, just as you 
are ; with all your imperfections, with all your shortcom- 
ings. Nothing can atone for the presence of these in your 
past prayers save the blood of the blessed Jesus, who has 
already atoned for them, if so be that your prayers were 
offered through Him. Let us remember that He, the Per- 
fect One, will do away with our imperfections ; and, if the 
heart be right with God, Jesus will take care that the 
prayer be right also. Our past imperfections, instead of 
making us backward, should rather spur us forward, in order 
that such imperfections should be overcome ; let us put our- 
selves under restraint, and bringing with us Jesus, the One 
through whom all prayer is heard, determine in the power 
of the Spirit, and say " I will." 




II. 
m* m\ttt at t\u "I mil" iufrp. 

Psalm xxviii, 1. " Unto Thee will I cry, Lord my rock : be not silent to 
me ; lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the 
pit. 1 ' 

^HE verses which we have to consider in reference 
to prayer, present the supplications of the man of 
God before us, in several different aspects. More 
than one of these aspects, is frequently found in 
the same verse ; we shall therefore have to recur to some 
passages, even after they have been specially treated of, as 
presenting to us fresh teaching, in this all-important mat- 
ter of prayer. Thus Psalm lv, 16, 17, gives us the time 
of trouble, in which prayer is made ; and no less than three 
characteristics of that prayer, namely "Faithful Expecta- 
tion, ?? " Intensity, 7 ' and " Continuance." " As for me, I 
will call upon God ; and the Lord shall save me. Even- 
ing, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : 
and He shall hear my voice." The time of prayer was a 
troublous one. He says, that "the Lord shall save him." 
The prayer was made in faithful expectation — " the Lord 
shall save" — the Lord " shall hear my voice." The 
prayer was characterized by intensity — I will " pray and 
cry aloud." And also with long continuance — " evening, 
and morning, and at noon" 

We shall limit our thoughts in this chapter, to the con- 



PRAYER. 163 

sideration of God as the great object of prayer, in the 
troublous time. 

Prayer is here made in trouble, in which all earthly 
solacing would be but vain. It is evident that the trouble 
is great ; that it is beyond the reach of ordinary allevia- 
tion ; that it will depress into the very lowest depths, unless 
help be afforded from God Himself; if He be silent, the 
Psalmist will be " like one that goes down into the pit." 

Now earthly solace is not to be despised. The sym- 
pathy of our fellow man, especially if it come from a kin- 
dred heart, is sweet to most; and even the rough sym- 
pathy of those who are not in many things kindred with 
ourselves, but who, nevertheless, are are drawn forth to us 
by our woes ; is grateful to us in our sorrowing hours. 
Whilst, however, human sympathy is not to be spoken of 
w T ith depreciation, it must also be spoken of with truth. 
Its powers are limited — it often tires and fails — there are 
woes, both spiritual and temporal, which it cannot reach. 
This has been experienced by every one who has been in 
deep sorrow, either of body or of soul : they have been cast 
loose from man ; the tie of communion, the connecting link 
with their fellows, seems to have been severed ; and they 
have been placed alone. How often is it the case that this 
has been done, in order that the way might be made clear 
for God, and God alone, to act. 

It must not be supposed that at such seasons earthly 
solace is silent in the abstract. No ! the voice of sympathy 
is heard by the outward ear, but it cannot penetrate to the 
heart ; kindly looks are bright, as the sunbeams in their 
radiance, but they fall upon an icy surface, which may re- 
flect them, but does not receive them ; the depths remain- 
ing as frost-bound as they were before. Many a word of 



164 PRAYER. 

sympathy, and sustaining, and consolation, has fallen, not 
only upon the outward ear, but has reached the judgment, 
and yet never reached the heart. The lip has responded to 
it; so has the mind; but the heart has been silent; it has 
not heard itself addressed, it has nothing therefore to an- 
swer. 

It might not be amiss to remind the reader, that if he 
undertake the task of comforter, or sympathizer, he must 
expect to find this. There are times when we feel inclined 
to be disappointed at the little success of our sympathizing 
efforts ; we feel half inclined to be displeased with the sor- 
rowing one because he will not be comforted ; it is not 
enough for us that he receives our sympathy, we want 
something more ; we want to see some effect from it. If, 
indeed, we wish to be wise sympathizers, let us be content 
to spend our sympathy, without seeing any result; let us 
learn to be silent with the silent ones ; to shew them that 
we, in some measure, take in their sorrows ; that we are 
feeling they have a depth of woe which we cannot fathom. 
Such silence is eloquence, and has much more likelihood of 
reaching the heart in time, if indeed it ever can be reached 
by human sympathy, than if we lavished many words at a 
season when the heart had no capacity for taking in words 
at all. Job's friends did more for him when "they sat 
down with him upon the ground seven days and seven 
nights, and none spake a word unto him, for they saw that 
his grief was very great," than when they exhausted upon 
him all their arguments. Job ii, 13. The sympathy of 
silence is, alas ! but little understood. 

At such seasons as these, God shuts us up unto Himself; 
He takes us into the wilderness, where our eye can light 
upon nothing that delights us ; where our ear can hear no 



PRAYER. 165 

sound that pleases us : He removes from us all the ordinary 
occupations of life, so that there is nothing to divert us ; 
we have no resource except it be in Him. 

At such seasons of trouble as these, the soul often feels 
as though it can be spoken to by God ; or, perhaps, half- 
numbed, it scarce feels as though it can. When the soul 
feels as though it can be spoken to by God, it realizes that 
there is One who has access to the hidden springs of its 
being ; One who has a voice, which can penetrate where 
human voice cannot reach ; if He will speak, it will be to 
say what will suit the soul's sad case. Such a belief is, 
under circumstances like these, very conducive to prayer ; 
the eye is turned simply upon God ; the afflicted one asks 
Him to speak, and believes that He will. But it is not 
always thus; grief and trouble sometimes numb and half 
stupify the afflicted one ; he thinks that his woe is beyond 
the reach of any, whether it be God or man ; he feels 
so blunted that he can scarce receive any comfort ; he has 
now no courage to look upward ; and unless God give, at 
least, so much quickening, as will make that man believe 
that something can be done for him, disastrous results 
ensue. 

In your trouble, dear reader, may it be ever given to 
you to retain the sensitive powers of the heart ; far better 
is it to retain sensitiveness, and the capacity for being acted 
upon by God, than to be numbed, and for a long time to 
bear the heavy oppression of the heart, as well as, subse- 
quently, the stingings which accompany the return of sen- 
sation. As we naturally seek for help, where we believe it 
is to be found, so the bare fact of realizing that God can 
help us, will in itself lead our minds upward to Him, who, 
in man's trouble, is not looked up to in vain. 



166 PRAYER. 

The points, then, upon which we shall now dwell, are 



The heart } s fixing upon God. 

The hearts desire from God. 

The hearts dependence upon God ; and 

The hearts hopelessness apart from God. 

" Unto Thee" says the Psalmist, "do I cry." Now it 
is of the utmost importance that we should have a definite 
object on which to fix our thoughts. Man, at the best of 
times, has but little power for realizing abstractions ; but 
least of all in his time of sorrow. Then he is helpless ; 
then he needs every possible aid ; and if his mind wander 
in vacancy, it will soon weary, and sink down exhausted. 
God has graciously taken care that this need not be done. 
He has so manifested Himself to man in His word, that the 
afflicted one can fix his mind's eye on Him, as the definite 
object of his faith, and hope, and prayer. " Call unto 
Me^ and / will answer thee, and shew thee great and 
mighty things which thou knowest not." Jer. xxxiii, 3. 
This was what the Psalmist did ; and the definiteness of 
God, as the object of his trust in prayer, is very clearly 
marked. " Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, Thou that 
dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants 
look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a 
maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait 
upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon 
us." Psalm cxxiii, 1, 2. 

And specially great is the privilege of the Christian in 
this matter. He can fix his eye on Jesus ; he, without any 
very great stretch of imagination, can picture that Holy 
One looking down upon him ; listening to him ; feeling for 
him ; preparing to answer him. Dear reader, in the time 



PRAYER. 167 

of your trouble, do not roam ; do not send out your sighs 
into vacancy ; do not let your thoughts wander, as though 
they were looking for some one on whom to fix ; for some 
one to whom you could tell the story of your heart's need 
and desolation. Fix your heart, as the Psalmist did, and 
say, "Unto Thee will I cry." "What a comfort is it to the 
child, that he can run and tell his sorrows or his fears to 
his parent; that he can go at once to the living sympathizer, 
or helper, as the case may be ; thus many woes have been 
lightened; many evils been averted. Such comfort may 
be ours, if we know where to take our troubles ; on whom 
to lay them ; to whom to confide everything connected with 
them. 

Let us, as speedily as possible, seek to obtain this per- 
sonal definite view of God, if we have it not as yet ; many 
reasons combine to make it most advantageous so to do. 
For, first, should trouble come upon us speedily, how 
dreadful will it be to have then to learn that we are prac- 
tically without resource. We believe, indeed, that there is 
One who can sympathize with, and help us, but we do not 
know where to find Him, we have not been used to speak 
personally with Him, we cannot go upon experience, all 
our knowledge we have to acquire. And while things are 
in this state, considerable mischief is going on, we have to 
bear our load alone ; we have to bear it, not sitting down, 
but going about seeking for one to help us ; and under these 
circumstances the burden must be the heavier. Much val- 
uable time is thus lost, wounds are being galled and opened, 
instead of mollified and closed, the heart is being crushed 
under its own weakness, instead of being lightened by 
reposing on heavenly strength. Moreover, while turning 
hither and thither, there is a danger of our being led far 



168 PRAYER. 

astray. Satan will be sure to be at hand, and ready to 
lead us away from God instead of to Him. That soul is 
in a dangerous case, which is found wandering about by 
Satan in the day of trouble ; he has refuges of his own, 
to which to lead it; and many a poor stricken one has been 
thus deceived, and has plunged into his pitfalls, by way of 
drowning sorrows, which Jesus would have taken and 
borne Himself. 

Oh ! how happy is that man who feels and knows that 
when trouble comes he cannot be bewildered and confused 
by the stroke, no matter how heavy it may be. Sorrow- 
stricken he will be, sorrow-stricken God may intend him to 
be, but he has his resource, and he knows it, and will avail 
himself of it. His is no vague theory of the general sym- 
pathy of God for man ; his is a knowledge of God, as a 
personal and feeling God; he says with the Psalmist, 
"Unto Thee will I cry." 

And that object is the right one. What terrible mis- 
takes do men often make in their choice of a friend ! Some 
cannot understand our case ; some will take base advantage 
of it; some, meaning well, will wholly mislead us; and, 
after all, the heart, with the addition of some fresh bitter 
experience, may be thrown back upon itself. 

The present is the time for learning that God is the One 
on whom to fix the heart in the day of trouble. We shall 
always learn something fresh of God, when looking to Him 
in our troublous time ; but it is not then that we should 
begin to seek Him ; we should be able to go to Him as a 
tried, as a well-known God ; as One who is not now to be 
tried, but rather to be depended, and leant upon. It is 
one thing to have attained to making an effort to lean on 






PRAYER. 169 

the right one for help ; it is another to be able to dispense 
with effort, and to repose on Him. 

Such, then, is the heart's fixing upon God ; we may rest 
assured that such heart fixing is well-pleasing to Him. 
He loves His people to come first and straight to Him ; 
He wills to be the One to come uppermost in their minds, 
when they need a friend — He is honored in this trust ; and 
those that honor Him, He will honor in return; when He is 
the first object of His people's thought, in their time of 
trouble, He will shew them that the confidence they repose 
in Him, by coming to him first in prayer, is not misplaced. 

Let us next observe what the heart desires from God. 
It is that He would speak. " Be not silent unto me." 
Under these circumstances, when we make our prayer, we 
desire that God would let us know that He hears us — and 
that He would appear for us — and that He would say, He 
is our Father. 

And what do we desire God to say ? We want Him to 
let us know that He hears us ; we want to hear Him speak 
as distinctly to us, as we feel that we have spoken to Him. 
"VVe want to know, not only by faith that we have been 
heard, but by Gods having spokeri to us t on the very 
subject lohereupon we have spoken to Him. When we 
feel thus assured that God has heard us, we can with the 
deepest confidence leave the whole matter about which we 
have been praying, in His hands. Perhaps an answer 
cannot come for a long time ; perhaps things, meanwhile, 
seem working in a contrary way ; it may be, that there is 
no direct appearance at all of God upon the scene ; still faith 
will hold up and be strong ; and there will be comfort in 
the heart, from the felt consciousness that God has heard 

8 



170 PRAYER. 

our cry about the matter, and that He has told us so. We 
shall say to ourselves, " God knows all about it ; God has 
in point of fact told me so ; therefore I am in peace. " And 
let it be enough for us that God tells us this, when He will 
perhaps tell us no more ; let us. not want to try and induce 
Him to speak much, when it is His will to speak but little 
— the best answer we can have at certain times is simply the 
statement that " He hears;" by this answer to our prayer 
He at once encourages, and exercises our faith. u It is 
said," says Kutherford, " speaking of the Saviour's delay 
in responding to the request of the Syrophenician woman, 
' He answered not a word;' but it is not said, He heard 
not a word. These two differ much. Christ often heareth 
when he doth not answer — His not answering is an ansiver, 
and speaks thus — ' Pray on, go on and cry, for the Lord 
holdeth His door fast bolted, not to keep you out, but that 
you may knock, and knock, and it shall be opened.' " 

But what if God be silent, and continue so for a length- 
ened time ? Has this ever been the experience of a believer ? 
It undoubtedly has ; and men have risen from their knees 
not knowing whether they had been heard or not. These 
are seasons of peculiar distress to the praying people of 
God ; and they have to take up the words which we find a 
little further on in the verse, " lest if Thou be silent unto 
me, I be like unto them that go down into the pit." 

Many of God's people have, from time to time, been 
oppressed in prayer with the feeling that God has not 
heard them ; that their prayers have never pierced the 
skies at all, but have fallen back heavily upon themselves ; 
depression has come over their hearts ; they have prayed 
in vain. 

There is a peculiar depression consequent upon the feel- 



PRAYER. 171 

ing of not having been heard ; a depression distinct from 
that which accompanies the thought that God may not 
grant our requests. In the present instance, we appear 
thrown back upon ourselves ; our labor, it may be our 
agony in prayer, seems useless : we almost think ourselves 
thrown out of our connection with the spiritual world — una- 
ble to gain even a hearing, no matter what the consequence 
of that hearing might be. By supposing ourselves similarly 
circumstanced in matters of dajly life, we can easily under- 
stand how painful this state of things is — happy are we if 
we do not understand it from actual experience ! 

Suppose the suitor cannot get a hearing for his case 
from the judge : suppose that applications for help are writ- 
ten again and again, and no answer comes in return ; at 
least, to say that they have been received ; suppose we 
have offended some one that we love, and that now, repen- 
tant and distressed, we address letters of sorrow for the 
past, but that no acknowledgment leads us to know that 
they have been opened, or even received ; we can imagine 
the numbing and distressing influence on the heart. 

If only we could get a hearing, we thing that all would 
be well, or at any rate, that matters would be better than 
they are now ; we might be able successfully to plead our 
cause, or, if we could not, ours would be at least the satis- 
faction of knowing that we had left no stone unturned, and 
that things would have been different if only we could have 
been heard. It is more depressing and irritating not to be 
able to get a hearing than to succeed in getting one, and 
then to fail in obtaining our desires. 

Now what the soul often wants in prayer, is just this 
assurance of being heard. If only the petitioner can feel 
that every word he says, every thought he has upon the 



172 PRAYER. 

matter in hand, really enters into the ears of God, one half 
his difficulties are passed, he can experience more comfort, 
and exercise more power in prayer. 

It is indeed of the utmost importance that we should feel 
that we are being heard ; one Sentence uttered under this 
consciousness is of more power than many when it is not 
present. 

We shall be greatly helped in this matter if, when we go 
to prayer, we take pains about being sure that we come 
into the very presence of God.^ If we be sure that we are 

* This may not be an unfitting place to make an observation upon the 
great value of mental realization in prayer, and some of the aids thereto. 
Very many find great difficulty in making prayer, as a matter of fact 
transaction, as any of the ordinary proceedings of daily life ; Satan uses 
the sacredness of prayer to destroy its reality ; with consummate craft he 
removes it from what is customary and real to what is speculative and 
ideal. Let us make prayer a common transaction between ourselves and 
our God ; until we do so, it will never exercise a matter of fact influence, 
a working power. The author knows a minister who finds it very help- 
ful to act as well as pray his prayers ; e. g., if an unpleasant or perplex- 
ing letter comes, he spreads it open upon the chair or table at which he 
is kneeling, and he points with his finger to the passages in question and 
prays about them. If he has to preach, he lays his hand in prayer upon 
his forehead and says, " Lord, anoint my thoughts, that I may be able 
to think aright on the subject on which I am now about to preach ;" — 
he passes his hand across his lips, and says, " Lord, anoint my lips, 
that wise words may come forth from them, and prudent and skilful 
words, that I may not only know what to say, but how to say it ; that 
no unadvised word may come forth from my mouth;" — he opens his 
waistcoat and lays his hand upon his heart, and says, " God, give right 
affections here, give warmth of feeling, and love, and fervor," &c. . . and 
thus he has the consciousness that, so far as he himself is concerned, he 
has really sought God's influences in prayer. Then, with regard to the 
congregation — in his mind's eye he takes in, not the whole church, but 
one side of the aisle, and he prays for those who will be there ; then for 
the other side, and so on for the different parts of the church ; then when 






PRAYER. 173 

in His presence, we must also be sure that we are heard. 
That time is well occupied which we spend in the act of 
coming into the Divine presence. True, some can find 
themselves there in a moment, but some cannot : and there 
is no reason why a man should not pause before he begins 
to pray, and solemnly perform the act of approach in his 
own mind, and thus reverentially proceed into the presence 
of the Most High. "When sure that we are in His presence, 
and that we are addressing him, we then, as has been said, 
feel sure that we are heard. 

But we seek for more than this ; our heart's desire is 
that God. will speak to us, and thus let us know that He 
hears ns ; we say " Be not silent unto nie/' 

Now, when God gives us an inward witness that our 
prayer has been heard, that witness brings peace to our 
hearts. God may not say, Ci I will grant this petition,"' 
but He does, in point of fact, say, "It now rests with me; 
I know thy desires :" and then, if we know anything of 

the time comes for him to preach, and he looks down from his pulpit, he 
feels that he has prayed for all. 

If the reader have a letter of importance to write, let him put the 
unwritten sheet of paper before him ; let him point to it, before the Lord, 
and say. ; ' Lord, teach me what to write on this paper;'' — if he be 
going to distribute a bundle of tracts, let him bring the tracts themselves 
before God. and put his hands upon them and pray over them ; if the 
mother have a child that grieves her, let her creep quietly into its room 
when it is sleeping at night, and pray over it, and point to it, before the 
Lord, and say, "0 Lord, for this child I ask," &c. And in the common 
things of daily life, this embodying of prayer will be very useful — let the 
sick man hold his medicine in his hand and pray over it — let the teacher 
spread her books before the Lord, and say over them, f * Lord, help me to 
communicate the knowledge I am to impart," &c. ; and thus, and thus 
only, we bring the might of heaven into the little things of daily life, and 
live in the enjoyment of a privilege which is surely ours. 



1 74 PRAYER. 

Him at all, we feel that He will send such an answer as is 
for our truest good. 

There is great sustaining influence in the realization that 
God has heard us ; in His having said even no more than 
this, " I have heard thee." If things seem to be going 
wrong in the matter concerning which we have prayed, we 
shall feel we know that God has it before Him, because He 
witnessed to our hearts that He heard us about it ; if there 
be long delays, and the heart seem inclined to become sick 
under the influence of " hope deferred," we shall stay our- 
selves upon this thought, " God has said to me that He 
listened to my supplications on this point." When once we 
are certain that God has heard us about any matter, there 
we must leave it, results are with Him ; and being willing 
to leave results with Him, we are entitled to seek the full 
assurance that He has listened to us, by His own witness to 
us on the point. 

Another part of the heart's desire is, that God icould 
appear for us in these circumstances 

Now this appearance need not have reference to the outer 
world at all. The desire of the Psalmist is, that God would 
speak to him. u Be not silent unto me." He wants to 
hear God assure him, that He is noting all the circum- 
stances of his case ; and this voice need not, for purposes 
of comfort, go beyond himself. What powerful comfort 
there is in the thought that God has spoken to our soul ; 
that He has spoken with reference to the points in which 
we are at that moment troubled ; that He has thus made 
His appearance on our behalf. At the sound of this voice, 
our fears are stilled ; and if we cannot attain to being joy- 
ful, we are at least in peace ; the appearance of circum- 



PRAYER. 175 

stances may have in no ^ise changed : our own resources 

r have in no wise increased : but God has spoken : 
and in this our heart finds r 

Let 
let us : ring heard the voice of Go 

er to our prayers. If we know God aright, that fact 
will involve many othera We shall have Hi- ?e 

J know that it is impossible for God to hear and not to 
re shall wait patiently until He work, how and 
when Ht 

The a dependence Gfod : is another point 

prominently brought before us here. The Lord seems to 

be everything to the Psalmist in his trouble. ' ; Unto Thee 
will I cry. lest if Thou be ailent onto me. I become like 
them that go down into the y 

This dependence is well-pleasing in the sight of God. 
; not often like to find his fellow man leaning upon 
him. much less throwing himself wholly upon him: b 

i 1 of the drag that will be made upon his resor 
does not like to be clogged, and embarrassed with a help- 
tore. But it is not so with God. Infinite in His 
Lin be embarrassed: the large: 
demand made on Him. the I :::er pleased He is. 

If we had deep r as of God r s wealth, and of His 

desire to see men draw largely upon it. we should k] 
more of heart dependence, tl do now ; but the t: 

"-. impereepti bly perhaps to ourselves, me: 
by our ow:; little standard ; and so fail to lean upon 
. with that thorough dependence which H? i 
long since ble sum of m:: :ed for a 

:h God's cause was concerned ; and 



176 PRAYER. 

a worthy man, when conversed with about it, and told that 
it was confidently expected from the Lord, answered, that 
it was expecting too much from God ; the homely phrase 
used meaning, that it was " pushing God too hard !" This 
worthy man's idea was by no means an uncommon one ; 
many think that it is exacting, to expect much from God ; 
that it is not modest to expect too much from Him ; in a 
word, that He ; the Infinite One, should be dealt with as 
though He were finite, as though He could be exhausted by 
our petitions. Concentrated dependence is what God likes 
to see in His people. Dependence of the deepest, and most 
perfect kind; dependence concentrated upon Him. He 
loves His people to feel that "if He be silent unto them, 
they become like them that go down into the pit." 

And this mention of the pit introduces us to the last point 
which is to be noticed in this chapter, viz., The hearts 
hopelessness apart from God, " Lest if Thou be silent 
unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit." 

The word "pit," taken by itself, may mean any kind of 
pit ; but in the phrase in which it is here and elsewhere 
found, it means the place of the departed, either of their 
bodies or souls. The sense, then, of what the Psalmist says 
is this, "Unless Thou, Lord, wilt hearken to my cry, I 
cannot be sustained even in life ; There is no hope for me 
upon earth." 

We shrink, in all probability, from being reduced to such 
a state as this; we cannot bear to have to say, " Attend 
unto my cry, for I am brought very low," but it is neces- 
sary that we should come to this. The last resource of the 
heart of poor fallen man is God ; He should be the first, 
He is the last ; and as long as there is anything for the 



PRAYER. 177 

heart to lean upon or hope from, it will not go to Him. 
Even God's own people are prone to forget this ; and, from 
time to time, grounds of human hope imperceptibly take 
the place of the One great object of hope, God, the all- 
sufficient God Himself. 

There is no doubt but that God sees it expedient from 
time to time, as the Great Physician, to reduce His patients 
very low: to make them feel what they knew well enough 
in theory, viz., that without Him, they are utterly undone. 
At such seasons, visions of the pit seem to come before their 
eyes ; they seem shut up to it, and there is little likelihood 
of escaping from it. These are terrible times, but they are 
also times of immense spiritual acquisition; we sometimes 
learn more of God in them, than in the evenly flowing events 
of one half our lives. We know that in our ordinary lives, 
there are periods of very short duration in which we seem 
to learn more than we had learned in years previously. 
"When death has taken away some one very near our heart, 
we seem to live a whole lifetime in a very few days or hours, 
and not only to live but to learn in proportion. I can well 
understand a man's saying, " I learned more in those few 
hours than in all my life beside;" it may be that then, for 
the first time, such an one was shut up between God and 
the pit, and obliged to cast himself upon Him, in a way 
which he had never done before. There are times in which 
the spiritual man will age many years in a few short hours. 
And this will just shew us how little we can gauge another 
man's spiritual experience, and how presumptuous it is for 
us to sit in judgment upon it. " Is not this the carpenter's 
son?"' say the Jews, " whence then hath He these things! 
and they were offended at Him/' They knew not His com- 
munion with the Father, and how different it was from 



178 PRAYER. 

theirs. And much the same form of question is asked by 
some, with regard to those for whose knowledge and expe- 
riences they cannot account. They know that such an one 
could not have grown into his present advanced state; how 
is it then that, all at once, he . has made such a stride in 
spiritual things ? He has seen the pit, he has seen no deliv- 
erer from the pit but God alone ; he has been brought in- 
to such terrible nearness to that pit that he must go into it 
unless God interfere on his behalf; let us be assured that 
there are seasons, when five minutes are more pregnant with 
deep spiritual teaching, than thrice as many years. Jesus 
lived far more than an ordinary lifetime of sorrow, in the 
moments of his bitter agony in Gethsemane. Spiritual life 
may be measured by intensity as well as length. 

Let your heart then, dear reader, fix itself upon God ; 
say, " Unto Thee will I cry, Lord my rock." Let your 
heart's desire be from Him, that He would speak to you ; 
say, "Be not silent unto me." Let your heart's depen- 
dence be upon Him, yea, let your heart be hopeless apart 
from Him ; say, " lest if Thou be silent unto me, I become 
like them that go down into the pit."' Thus cast yourself 
upon God, and He will accept the trust, and He will keep 
you from the deep, dark, dungeon-pit of despair ; and if, 
for His glory, there be any pit into which you have to de- 
scend, He will not be silent to you ; He will not leave you 
nor forsake you; but will walk with you in furnace fires 
heated seven-fold more than is their wont, and sit with you, 
even amid all the horrors of the lions' den. 




III. 

Wkt "$ Wilt" of !*»»** in t\u Situ* of double. 

Psalm lv, 16, 17. " As for me, I will call upon God : and the Lord shall 
save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: 
and He sliall hear my voice.'' 

AVID was a man who not only worshipped God, 

but who lived and walked with Him also. His 

communion and his prayer were morning, noon, 

and evening — when the sun was rising, when it 

was hot, and when it was setting — he lived with God, and 

so he lived in a spirit of prayer. 

David, then, could well say the "I will" which we are 
about to consider now : so also could Christ, to whom pro- 
phetically this psalm belongs. 

In the days of His flesh, our Lord called evening, morn- 
ing, and at noon, upon His Father: He cried -aloud: and 
we know that He was heard. Thus much we know of Jesus, 
that He prayed continually : that He remained all night 
upon the mountain side in prayer : but how little do we 
know of His " crying aloud." Such as are revealed to us, 
may, perhaps, give us a clue to what many others were : 
the bitter cries of Gethsemane were not strange sounds in 
the ears of God: many such had, doubtless, come before His 
throne from the mountain side, on which His Son was keep- 
ing His lonely vigil, of meditation and prayer — and not only 
from the solitude of the mountain side, but also from the 



180 PRAYER. 

crowded haunts of the resorts of men. When Jesus sighed, 
when He looked up to heaven, little, or it may be, nothing 
was heard by human ear ; but a loud voice was heard before 
the Father's throne in heaven. "I know," said Jesus, 
" that Thou hearest me always." " Evening, and morning, 
and at noon will I pray, and cry aloud : and He shall hear 
my voice." 

Humbly and at a great distance, no doubt, must Jesus' 
people ever follow Him ; still we may, yea, we must follow 
Him on earth, even as we hope to follow Him to that place 
whither He is gone before; and so we also, it is to be hoped, 
can take up this ' I Will' of Jesus, and of David, and say, 
" As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save 
me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray and 
cry aloud ; and the Lord shall hear my voice." Feebly and 
imperfectly, owing to the weakness of the flesh, will we 
carry out such a declaration as this ; but our feebleness 
must not deter us from entering on it. Of that feebleness 
God will take no account in wrath, but much account in 
pity ; so much, that we may in all faith take up the Psalm- 
ist's words, and say, u And He shall hear my voice." 

There are some points of practical instruction brought 
before us here, from which we may gather teaching, in 
matters connected with our ordinary spiritual life. 

Observe, I. The standing out in strong distinctiveness , 
i* As for me." 

Circumstances were now about as bad as they well could 
be. The voice of the enemy was heard ; the oppression of 
the wicked was felt : u they cast iniquity upon me," says 
the Psalmist, u in wrath they hate iqe." And these cir- 
cumstances became aggravated by the fact, that some of the 
actors upon the scene, were those who ought to have qccu- 



PRAYER. 181 

pied the position of friends. " It was not an enemy that 
reproached me, then I could have borne it ; neither was it 
he that hated me, that did magnify himself against me, 
then I would have hid myself from him ; but it was thou, 
a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We 
took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of 
God in company." 

Let us here, first of all, observe that there is no disarm- 
ing of malice by compromise. Had the Psalmist chosen 
to compromise, he might often, no doubt, have disarmed the 
enmity of his foes ; had Jesus chosen to compromise, he 
also might have done the same. A half-and-half man, a 
half-and-half creed, will never meet with violent opposition- 
or enmity from the world. Even what might be called a 
three-quarters man will escape without very much hurt. It 
is the out-and-out Christian, and the out-and-out creed that 
the world hates. Making compromises is an old trade of 
Satan's; it is one at which he shews consummate skill; he 
is willing to be large and liberal : he will concede far more 
than a/t first sight any one would suppose ; in fact, he will 
go so far as to say, " You may be nine-tenths Christ's, if 
only as regards the remaining tenth, you will agree to be 
mine." 

The man of God must pray for grace, never even to listen 
to the smallest word on the subject of compromise. He 
ought to nail his colors to the mast, and not listen, even for 
a moment, to any terms upon which those colors are to be 
struck. " No surrender!" "No compromise!" These 
should be the mottos, and the watchwords under which he 
fights. 

Let us see how some of the ancient saints and martyrs 



182 PRAYER. 

dealt with the endeavors which were made to induce them 
to a compromise. "When Polycarp was apprehended, 
and was on his way to the tribunal, the irenarch Herod, 
and his father Nicetes, met him, and taking him up into 
their chariot, began to advise him, asking, l What harm 
is it to say, Lord Caesar ! and to sacrifice, and be safe V 
At first he was silent ; but being pressed, he said, ' I will 
not follow your advice.' When they could not persuade 
him, they treated him abusively, and thrust him out of 
the chariot ; so that in falling he bruised his thigh. But 
he, still unmoved, as if he had suffered nothing, went on 
cheerfully under the conduct of his guards, to the Sta- 
dium. There, the tumult being so great that few could 
hear anything, a voice from heaven said to Polycarp, as 
he entered on the Stadium, ' Be strong, Polycarp, and 
behave yourself like a man.' None saw the speaker, but 
many of us heard his voice. When he was brought to 
the tribunal, there was a great tumult, as soon as it was 
generally understood that Polycarp was apprehended. 
The proconsul asked him if he were Polycarp ; to which 
he assented. The former then began to exhort him : — 
c Have pity on thy own great age' — and the like. ' Swear 
by the fortune of Caesar — repent — say, Take away the 
atheists.' Polycarp, with a grave aspect, beholding all 
the multitude, waving his hand to them, and looking up to 
heaven, said, ' Take away the atheists.' The proconsul 
urging him, and saying, l Swear, and I will release thee ; 
reproach Christ.' Polycarp said ' Eighty and six years 
have I served Him, and he hath never wronged me ; and 
how can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me ?' The 
proconsul still urging, ' Swear by the fortune of Caesar,' 
Polycarp said, ' If you still vainly contend to make me 



PRAYER. 183 

11 swear by the fortune of Caesar/' as you speak, affecting an 
ignorance of my real character, hear me frankly declaring 
what I am : — I am a Christian, and if you desire to know 
the Christian doctrine, assign me a day, and hear.' The 
proconsul said, ; Persuade the people.' Polycarp said, { I 
have thought proper to address you, for we are taught to 
pay to magistracies, and powers appointed by God, all honor 
which is consistent with a good conscience.' i I have wild 
beasts/ says the proconsul; L I will expose you to them, 
unless you repent.' c Call them,' replies the martyr : ' our 
minds are not to be changed, from the better to the worse ; 
but it is a good thing to be changed from evil to good.' c I 
will tame your spirit by fire,' says the other, * since you 
despise the wild beasts, unless you repent.' c You threaten 
me with fire,' answers Polycarp, • which burns for a mo- 
ment, and will be soon extinct ; but you are ignorant of the 
future judgment, and of the fire of eternal punishment, 
reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Do 
what you please.' " 

To swear by " the fortune of Caesar" seemed but a small 
concession, how much less evil did it appear than cursing 
Christ : but the Christian martyr would hear of no conces- 
sion at all, and rather than make any he died. 

We may rest assured that we fall into a decided trap of 
Satan's, when we offer to yield even ever so little to the 
world in order to disarm its malice ; we shall, in all prob- 
ability, be driven from one concession to another, and even 
if this be not the case, we shall find that, after all, the 
malice of the world is as strong as it was before. I doubt 
much whether its malice will not be even stronger, for now 
it will despise as well as hate. 

The Psalmist took his stand, he said, " as for me," just 



184 PRAYER. 

as Joshua did, who took up his own ground, irrespective of 
what all others might do, saying, " As for me and my 
house, we will serve the Lord." 

Why need we resort to compromise to disarm the world 
of its malice, or rather to neutralize its power, for disarm 
it we never can. To think of compromise is as much as to 
say, " We have not a sufficiency of resource in God, we are 
driven by hard necessity to these disreputable shifts." If 
we knew T our resources in prayer, we should never think 
of compromise for a moment, we should say to ourselves 
" There is no need for anything of the kind, my God to 
whom I commit the malice of my enemies in prayer, is able 
and willing to deal with them, ' as for me, I will call upon 
God, and the Lord shall save me.' " 

Let us further observe, that the Psalmist does not 
faint at the isolated position in which he is placed. His 
enemies were many, he seemed to stand alone, but instead 
of succumbing, he flees to God, he says, "I will call," and 
" the Lord shall save." 

Now an isolated position is a very hard and a very 
depressing one to occupy for any length of time. Men will 
do and bear in company, what they can neither do nor bear 
alone ; in loneliness there comes the sense of weakness, and 
oftentimes the temptation to give up. 

If any one who reads these lines has to sustain the iso- 
lated position, whether it be in his own family or elsewhere, 
let him remember that in this, as in all other forms of suf- 
fering, Christ Jesus has gone before. He was not only the 
most snd amongst the sad, but He was also the most lonely 
amongst the lonely. True ! multitudes thronged Him, but, 
as we have often felt ourselves most lonely when in a crow T d, 



PRAYER. 185 

because none there sympathized with us or knew us, so 
Jesus doubtless felt Himself lonely indeed, when crowds 
pressed upon Him who had no sympathy with Him, and 
who, in the truest sense of the words, did not know 
Him. 

Oh ! there are times of awful loneliness upon the earth ; 
times when, as the sun sinks beneath the horizon, our hearts 
sink with it, and long deep shadows fall athwart our souls ; 
times when, as the sun rises again in its freshness and its 
strength, we feel that it brings to us no light, no heat, no 
healing on its wings. We have now no flowers in our hearts 
to unfold beneath its beams, our flowers have been plucked, 
and bloom with us no more ; we have no jewels to flash and 
glitter in its rays, we have had our treasure taken, from us, 
and our heart is like the rifled casket, good for nothing in 
itself. Have we not been startled by our own foot-falls ? 
have we not been choked by our own breath ? have we not 
looked out into vacancv ? have we not dreamed while our 
eyes were open ? have we not felt as though our very selves 
had been cut in twain, and that we were incomplete, as 
though a part of our very being had been stolen away? 
Then, did we not become faint and sick at heart, did we not 
taste that which he who has once tasted will never forget — 
the nausea of grief? 

Now, be our loneliness what it may, it never can exceed 
the loneliness of Christ. True ! He Himself tells us that 
He was not alone ; for He had the Father with Him : 
(John xvi, 32;) but as far as human feelings and sympathies 
were concerned Jesus was alone. The man Christ Jesus 
was often lonely ; and paint what dreary scene we will, He, 
from the experience of His earthly sorrows, can sketch us a 
drearier : heave what deep and exhausting sigh we may, it 



186 PRAYER. 

will be but a faint and feeble echo to those which came from 
Him in His sorrowing hours. 

It is inexpressible comfort to the believer that he can feel 
Christ's sympathy in seasons such as these ; that this his 
loneliness is known and understood by Jesus ; but this lone- 
liness is not the trial upon which we wish now to dwell. 
The isolated position presented here is one connected with 
desertion, and bitterness, and opposition, and all which is 
calculated to appal and unnerve the heart. 

Let us observe that there is no fainting under all this ; 
instead of any such yielding, there is a falling back upon 
God in prayer ; a determination to stand upon individual 
relationship to Him, individual realization of Him ; upon 
the consciousness of His all-sufficiency. u As for nte* I 
will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me/' 

The isolated position may assume many forms; under 
whichever one it comes to us, may the Lord give us grace 
to be of good courage, and not to faint. It may be that 
some reader must stand alone in his own family ; that his 
life must be a protest against theirs in almost every daily 
act ; or perhaps he may be one of a godly family, but is 
yet, by circumstances, compelled to sojourn amongst the 
ungodly; obliged to take up the Psalmist's words, "Woe 
is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech and to 
have my habitation among the tents of Kedar." Psalm cxx, 
5. Or perhaps the reader's isolated position may not be an 
habitual, but only an accidental one, one which is to last 
for a few days, or only a few hours ; whatever it may be, 
do not for a moment think of succumbing under it ; do not 
allow your mind for an instant to dwell upon the idea of 
your being alone ; see that you have God on your side ; 



PRAYER. 187 

God ready to befriend you. and say, " As for me, I will call 
upon God: and the Lord shall save me." 

"When we are in the most complete state of isolation so 
far as man is concerned, we are not, we cannot be, thoroughly 
alone. It is Satan's policy to direct our attention to our- 
selves ; to shew us that we are by ourselves ; to appal us by 
our isolation : but we must hold our ground under the deep 
conviction that God is near. When the King of Syria sent 
horses, and chariots, and a great host, to seize Elisha, and 
they compassed the city about in which he was, Elisha's 
servant cried, '" Alas, my master ! how shall we do?" Then 
Elisha answered, " Fear not ; for they that be with us are 
more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, 
and said, Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may 
see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; 
and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and 
chariots of fire round about Elisha," 2 Kings vi, 15, &c. 

The heart, if left to itself, must sink and fail; flesh and 
blood, when thrown upon their own simple resources, are 
not equal to sustaining heavy pressure ; they will faint, not 
only under the pressure, but even at the prospect of it : the 
one resource is prayer. " As for me, I will call upon 
God." 

When Luther was about to appear before the Emperor 
Charles, and the assembled princes, at the Diet of Worms, he 
was troubled and dismayed; the emperor, whose sovereignty 
extended over great part of the old and new world, his 
brother the archduke Ferdinand, six electors of the empire, 
twenty-five dukes, eight margraves, thirty archbishops, 
bishops, and abbots, seven ambassadors, ten deputies, and 
a great number of princes, counts, sovereign barons, and 
papal nuncios, in all two hundred and four persons, had to 



188 PRAYER. 

be faced by the solitary monk ; what wonder if he was dis- 
mayed? The historian tells us that " his heart had been 
troubled in the presence of so many great princes, before 
whom nations humbly bent the knee." The reflection that 
he was about to refuse to submit to these men, whom God 
had invested with sovereign power, disturbed his soul, and 
he felt the necessity of looking for strength from on high. 
" On the morning of the 18th of April, Luther was not 
without his moments of trial, in which the face of God 
seemed hidden from him. His faith grew weak, his enemies 
multiplied before him, his imagination was overwhelmed at 
the sight, his soul was as a ship tossed by a violent tempest, 
which reels and sinks to the bottom of the abyss, and then 
mounts again to heaven." Never was any man in a greater 
state of isolation ; and what does he do ? In this hour of 
bitter sorrow, in which he drinks the cup of Christ and 
which was to him a little garden of Gethsemane, he falls to 
the earth and utters these broken cries, which we cannot 
understand unless we can figure to ourselves the depth of 
the anguish whence they ascend to God. 

" Almighty and everlasting God ! how terrible is this 
world ! Behold it openeth its mouth to swallow me up, and 
I have so little trust in Thee ! . . . . How weak is the flesh, 
and how powerful is Satan ! If it is in the strength of this 
world only that I must put my trust, all is over ! . . . my 
last hour is come, my condemnation has been pronounced ! 
... God! God! ... God, do Thou help me 
against all the wisdom of this world ! Do this; Thou shouldest 
do this . . . Thou alone ... for this is not my work, but 
Thine. I have nothing to do here ; nothing to contend for 
with these great ones of the world ! I should desire to see 
my days flow on peaceful and happy. But the cause is 



PRAYER. 189 

Thine . . . and it is a righteous and eternal cause. Lord! 
help me ! Faithful and unchangeable God ! In no man do I 
place my trust. It would be vain ! All that is of man is 
uncertain; all that cometh of man fails. God! my 
God, hearest Thou me not ? . . . My God, art Thou dead ? 
. . . No, Thou canst not die ! Thou hidest Thyself only ! 
Thou hast chosen me for this work, I know it well ! . . . 
Act, then, God ! stand at my side, for the sake of Thy 
well beloved Jesus Christ, who is my defence, my shield, 
and my strong tower." 

After a moment of silent struggle he thus continues, 
'•'Lord! where stayest Thou! my God, where art 
Thou ? . . . Come ! come, I am ready ! ... I am ready to 
lay down my life for Thy truth . . . patient as a lamb. For 
it is the cause of justice — it is Thine. . . . I will never 
separate myself from Thee, neither now, nor through eter- 
nity . . . and though the world should be filled with devils 
— though my body, which is still the work of Thy hands, 
should be slain, be stretched upon the pavement, be cut in 
pieces . . . reduced to ashes . . . my soul is Thine. . . . Yes, 
I have the assurance of Thy word. My soul belongs to 
Thee ! it shall abide for ever with Thee ! it shall abide 
for ever with Thee. . . . Amen ! God ! help me ! . . . 
Amen !" 

And God did help him ; for we are told that lc after he 
had thus prayed, he found that peace of mind, without 
which, man can effect nothing great. He then read the 
word of God ; looked over his writings ; and sought to 
draw up his reply in a suitable form. The thought that he 
was about to bear testimony to Jesus Christ and His word, 
in the presence of the emperor and of the empire filled his 
heart with joy. As the hour of His appearance was not 



190 PRAYER. 

far off, he drew near the Holy Scriptures that lay open on 
the table, and with emotion placed his left hand on the 
sacred volume, and raising his right toward heaven, swore 
to remain faithful to the gospel ; and freely to confess his 
faith, even should he seal his testimony with his blood. 
After this he felt still more at peace." 

Such was the conduct of a great man in a great trial ; 
natural boldness he doubtless had, but his trial was too 
strong for mere flesh and blood, his resource was in prayer ; 
there he sought for, and there he found, the strength that 
he required. As he did, so may you, dear reader, do also ; 
and whenever you have to stand alone, be it in your own 
families, or in company, or before the people of the world, 
for the sake of Jesus, never dream of getting rid of your 
isolation by giving up your distinctiveness ; hold on, hold 
out, say, " As for me, I will call upon God ; and the Lord 
shall save me." 

Let me guard the reader from thinking that I would not 
have him recognize his isolated position because I point 
out to him the need of looking at God's presence with him, 
instead of his own solitude. When we are in a position of 
isolation, it is necessary to perceive it ; indeed a part of 
our safety will consist in our full and distinct recognition 
of it. There is no small amount of power in the words 
" As for me'' — these words bring before us at once our 
separation from the enemies of God and our being on the 
Lord's side ; they tell us of our resources, of God's regard 
to us in our distinctive state, of the position we occupy in 
His sight. In the contemplation of our isolation there may 
be weakness, in the recognition of it there is strength. 

We see then how the Psalmist stood out in strong dis- 



P B ATER. 191 

tinctiveness : let us now see how he recognizes God as a 
friend in the midst of all this trouble. " As for me, I 
will call upon God ; and the Lord shall save me." It is 
very important to observe that the Psalmist did not allow 
the multitude to hide out God from his view. We see that 
there were many against him. and the tendency of the 
natural mind would have been to look at the multitude who 
were close at hand, and not at God. who might have been 
considered to be afar off. 

This recognition of God the Psalmist made in prayer ; 
he could have made it in no more effectual way, because 
prayer is a matter immediately between the person praying 
and the person prayed to. and thus the Psalmist had God 
steadily before his eyes, no matter what the number of his 
foes. When we are hard pressed we shall often get a clear 
view of God in prayer when we could not in any other 
way. 

Let us, dear readers, take care that in our times of trial 
we do not allow the multitude to hide out God : that we 
do not permit our troubles to assume a prominence which 
would make them absorb our minds : if we permit this, 
Satan's purpose is, to a great extent, gained ; he will have 
separated us from our source of strength. We have often 
met with believers whose troubles had so overwhelmed 
them that they shut out God ; these troubles were like a 
flight of locusts, whose numbers we are told are sometimes 
so great as even to obscure the sun. Now we cannot help 
having troubles, and more than this, we cannot help their 
coming in multitudes, but the eye of faith can pierce 
through them all, and herein it has great advantage over 
the eye of sense. It would be mere affectation to say, 
" We will ignore the existence of these trials altogether," 



192 PRAYER. 

we cannot do so ; trials are hard, solid facts ; enemies are 
substantial realities, as perhaps many of us know to our 
cost ; and when these thicken upon us, we must know and 
feel the serious nature of our case. It is foolish to hide 
our eyes from the reality of facts, and, like the ostrich in 
the desert, to think to escape by shutting our eyes ; she 
supposes, as she hides her head in the sand, that none can 
see her because she cannot see them ; shall we suppose that 
our enemies cannot see us because we do not choose to see 
them ? No, let us give our enemies full credit for their 
numbers and their might, then let us pass above them all 
in prayer, and clearly look on God. Satan has continually 
tried to perplex God's people by number ; no single foe 
was particularly strong or unmanageable, but the many 
were hard to deal with, the multitude could distract the 
thoughts. Let us be on our guard against this form of 
spiritual danger, and say, " As for me, I will call upon 
God; and the Lord shall save me." Zaccheus was very 
much in earnest in his desire to see Jesus, and so he found 
means, despite his natural incapacity, of not being thwarted 
by the crowd ; and the woman who had the issue of blood 
was very earnest in her desire to touch the Lord, and she 
accomplished her wish, although the multitude thronged 
and pressed Him ; and the friends of the man with the 
palsy were very intent upon laying their burden at the 
very feet of Jesus, and so they broke up the roof and let 
the afflicted one down immediately before the One by whom 
he could be saved. As they did, so let us do also, and we 
may rest assured that we shall succeed. 

Let us further observe, that the Psalmist did not allow 
the closeness of his suffering, which touched him to the 



PRAYER. 193 

very quick, to obscure his vision of God. Suffering 
which touches to the quick has a tendency to make us 
absorbed in ourselves, or perhaps, to make us dissatisfied 
with God ; we are so often occupied with what Ave are feel- 
ing, so absorbed with our pains and distresses, that we can ' 
think of nothing else. Satan has often had great advan- 
tage over the saints of God, in their times of deep distress ; 
and the way by which he gained this advantage, was by 
absorbing the mind on self. In self there was, of course, 
no resource ; self was to be the endurer and sufferer ; and 
by looking at self, and not at God, the picture presented to 
the mind was " suffering without help." What picture 
could be darker ; what could better suit the purposes of the 
Evil One ? Self without God ! Surely this is an equiv- 
alent for despair. Many can go through ordinary suffer- 
ings without losing sight of God, who yet fail when there 
comes suffering to the very quick ; they are then too hard 
pressed even to bethink them of their having a friend. 

Let us see how the blessed Lord Jesus Christ acted under 
such circumstances as these ; and let Him be our example. 
In His agony in Gethsemane, His nature was touched to the 
very quick ; an apostle was then almost in the very act of 
betraying Him ; those who should have watched with Him 
were sleeping ; the cup of extremest anguish was just about 
to be put into His hand ; surely, if ever any one might 
have been absorbed with his own suffering, that one was 
Jesus. But God was not hidden out from Him : on the 
contrary, it was His Father's face He sought ; and the 
appearance of the strengthening angel was a proof that He 
sought it not in vain. Oh ! be His example ours, in the 
time when we are touched in the very quick and marrow 
of our natures ; then, closeness of suffering will be blessed ; 

9 



194 PRAYER. 

the pressure will force us upward, ever higher and higher, 
until we come with our sorrows before the throne ; and 
perhaps we shall find that suffering in the very quick has 
led to blessing in the very quick also ; that blessing has 
• pervaded an inner depth of the soul, of whose very exist- 
ence we were not aware before. 

Observe, also, how the Psalmist did not allow the dis- 
covered hollowness of human friendship to throw a 
shadow on the divine. His chief suffering was from his 
own familiar friend ; so also was Jesus' ; to which suffering 
this portion of the psalm prophetically applies. " For it 
was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have 
borne it ; neither was it he that hated me, that did magnify 
himself against me, then I would have hid myself from 
him ; but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and 
mine acquaintance ; we took sweet counsel together, and 
walked unto the house of God in company." 

We are all of us very apt to lean on human friends, and 
seek in their advice and sympathy both direction and sup- 
port. We would raise friendship above the ordinary ebbs 
and flows of human things, and consider it in a poetical and 
beautiful light, as able to resist all the fluctuations and 
changes, w T hich are occurring in the daily wear and tear of 
life. Nothing shocks our sensibilities more than a discov- 
ery of the hollowness of some friendship on which we built ; 
and the effects of such a discovery are often very painful 
indeed. One of these effects is, to throw us in upon our- 
selves ; we have been betrayed, deceived ; and we are indig- 
nant, and will not subject ourselves to the like again. 
Satan, ever on the watch to turn each circumstance and 
feeling to his own purpose, and make something out of it. 



PRAYER. 195 

will now endeavor to throw forward the dark shadow of 
broken human friendship upon that Divine Friend who 
u sticketh closer than a brother," and to shake as much as 
he can our dependence in the friendship of God and Christ. 
Let us observe where Jesus was found, in the time both of 
impotent, and of violated friendship. He was in prayer 
with God, and that Father and truest friend was unshaken, 
amid all the shiverings of the potsherds of the earth. 

Painful as it is to enunciate such a truth, and treason- 
able to all sentimentality and poetry, it yet is true that 
human friendship is not to be relied upon. The friend of 
to-day will look coldly upon us to-morrow ; the man from 
whom we receive a grasp of the hand now, will perhaps 
in a little while not even recognize us, should he meet us 
in the street. Let us be thankful for human friendships 
such as they are, and while they last ; but let us by no 
means build upon them ; they may fail us in the trying 
hour. But let us be careful to give the Great and True 
Friend a position in our hearts, and in our judgments, far 
higher than that occupied by any earthly friend : let us 
firmly fix the truth in our minds, that He is the friend, 
" that sticketh closer than a brother;" let us never so 
much as entertain, for a moment, the thought of its being 
possible that He can change ; let Him be as far removed 
from all such doubts, as the sun is from the shadows that 
flit to and fro upon the earth. Thus deeply trusting God, 
we sfcall be ready to resort to Him in prayer, in the times 
when we are thrown off by earthly friends ; we shall not 
have to stop and deliberate as to whether we have a friend 
or no ; we shall alio v no time for a morbid feeling to take 
possession of our minds ; we shall not fall into a state of 
depression and weakness, which would leave us an easy 



196 PRAYER. 

prey to Satan. We could not sustain ourselves under the 
consciousness of being altogether friendless ; many of the 
troubles which we meet are too heavy to be borne alone ; 
henceforth let us go at once to God in prayer when our 
trouble comes upon us ; let us go in the full conviction that 
in Him we have a friend, however friendless we might be 
on earth ; let us make the Psalmist's determination ours. 
" As for me, I will call upon God ; and the Lord shall save 
me ; evening, morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry 
aloud : and He shall hear my voice.'' 

There remains yet one more point brought before us here, 
which is of great importance; i. e., the Psalmist's deter- 
mination to continue in prayer ; " evening, morning, and 
at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud.' 1 

We have here continuous prayer tinder continual pres- 
sure. We find that the natural tendency of continual 
pressure is to wear us out. Many of us can bear a quick, 
sharp pain, the very thought of its being soon over helping 
to carry us through : but prolonged trial, even though in 
the aggregate it be not so bad as the one quick, sharp pain, 
w T e cannot endure. I believe that the only way by which 
continual pressure can be met, is continuous prayer ; when 
the pressure is actively upon us, prayer in the morning to 
be kept till noon, and at noon to be kept till night, 
and at night to be kept until morning dawn again. 
There is, perhaps, an advantage in thus looking to prayer 
to carry us on, as it were, fixed stages of our sad and 
weary way. There is a definiteness in our supplication, 
w T hich gives it peculiar reality and life; and seeing that 
the answer, if it come at all, must come at once, we 
are on the look out for it, and our faith is stirred up to 
special exercise. Take the case of a person in pain ; every 



PRAYER. 197 

hour, even every minute, is a trial of endurance ; there is 
no immediate prospect of release ; the very indefiniteness 
of the time for which the pain may endure, adds to the 
sufferer's trial ; what can uphold like continual prayer, 
and the strength flowing from it like the supplication, 
morning, noon, and night ? We are sometimes placed under 
continuous pressure, by the provocations of those with whom 
we live, or with whom our lot is cast in following the 
ordinary avocations of life ; some persons' circumstances in 
their trades or professions are such, that they are perpetu- 
ally harassed to make both ends meet, and many a poor 
man lives in continual trouble, day by day, to feed and 
clothe those who are dependent on him ; there is nothing 
like continuous prayer for meeting all this pressure, it will 
sustain under any amount of burden, and for any length 
of time. 

Some of Satan's temptations might be called " wearing 
out temptations,' ' the very principle on which they act is 
the exhaustion of the believer ; Satan calculates the limits 
of man's endurance, then he lays on a pressure which will 
exceed those limits, and thus act upon the exhausted. believer 
as he will. Continuous prayer will effectually cope with, 
and foil, such an attempt as this ; and the probability is, 
that when the Evil One sees that the Christian has the 
secret of success, he will turn to some other method of 
attack. The believer is now like a garrison in a state of 
siege ; to hold out long enough is to come victorious out of 
the strife. As long as Abraham continued in prayer, so long 
God continued to bless, and had the patriarch continued yet 
further than he did, who can tell what would have been the 
result ? 

We have a specimen of the continuance of assault, and 



198 PRAYER. 

the resistance of continuous prayer, in the case of the 
martyr Glover. 

Robert Glover remained in prison eight days, till the 
bishop's arrival; "in which time/' he says, u l gave myself 
continually to prayer, and meditation of the merciful 
promises of God, made unto all, without exception of person, 
that call upon the name of His dear Son Jesus Christ. I 
found in myself daily amendment of health of body, increase 
of peace in conscience, and many consolations from God, by 
the help of His Holy Spirit ; and sometimes, as it were, a 
taste and glimmering of the life to come, all for His only 
Son Jesus Christ's sake ; to Him be all praise, for ever and 
ever ! The enemy ceased not to assault me, often objecting 
to my conscience, my own unworthiness, through the great- 
ness of the benefit, to be counted among the number of them 
that suffer for Christ, for His gospel's sake. Against him 
I replied with the word of God on this sort : — ' What were 
all those whom God hath chosen from the beginning to be 
His witnesses ? Were they not men, even as Paul and Bar- 
nabas declared, Acts xiv, 15, subject to wickedness, sin, 
and imperfection as other men be ? They were no bringers 
of goodness to God, but altogether receivers. They chose 
not God first, but He chose them. They loved not God 
first, but He loved them first. Yea, He both loved and 
chose them when they were His enemies, full of sin and 
corruption, and void of all goodness. He is, and will be, 
still the same God ; as rich in mercy to forgive sins, with- 
out respect of person, to the world's end, to all them that 
call upon Him. God is near, He is at hand ; He is with 
all, I say, and refuseth none, excepteth none, that faith- 
fully, in true repentance, call upon Him, in what hour, 
what place, or what time soever it be.' It is not arrogancy 



PRAYER. 199 

nor presumption in any man, to burden God (as it were) 
with His promise, and to claim and challenge His aid, help, 
and assistance in all our perils, dangers, and distress ; call- 
ing upon Him, not in the confidence of our own godliness, 
but in the trust of His promises, made in Christ. In whom, 
and by whom, and for whose sake, whosoever boldly ap- 
proacheth to the mercy-seat of the Father, is sure to receive 
whatsoever is expedient or necessary, either for body or 
soul, in more ample wise, and large manner, than he can 
well wish or dare desire. His word cannot lie ; { Call upon 
Me in the day of trouble, and I will hear thee : and thou 
shalt praise Me.' I answered the enemy also in this man- 
ner : — { I am a sinner, and therefore unworthy to be a 
witness of this truth. But what then ? Must I deny His 
word, because I am unworthy to profess it ? As Christ 
Himself beareth witness, c he that is ashamed of Me, or of 
My words, of him I will also be ashamed before My Father, 
and all His angels.' I might, by like reason, forbear to do 
any of God's commandments, because I am not worthy to 
do them. These are the delusions of the devil, and Satan's 
suggestions ; which must be overcome by continuance of 
prayer, and with the word of God, applied, according to 
the measure of every man's gift, against all assaults of the 
devil." 

These extracts record the patience and faith of the saint. 
The conclusion of his history demands attention. Shortly 
before his martyrdom he felt his doubts and apprehensions 
return; he mentioned the deadness of his soul, and his 
want of spiritual comfort, notwithstanding his earnest pray- 
ers night and day, to Augustine Beruher, one who con- 
tinually visited the sufferers for Christ whenever he could 
find opportunity. Beruher earnestly prayed him to wait 



200 PRAYER. 

the Lord's pleasure, and not to doubt but that God would 
visit him in His own good time, and satisfy him with abun- 
dance of consolation. Beruher not only expressed himself 
thus confidently upon the subject, but desired his friend to 
make some sign, whereby he might know when this support 
was vouchsafed. 

Glover continued in doubt and gloom, but was still 
enabled to hold fast his purpose. "He had continued all 
night in prayer, and was even come in sight of the stake, 
yet his mind was still weighed down with a burden, almost 
too heavy to be borne. But though cast down, he was not 
forsaken. The evening of a dark and stormy day is some- 
times illumined by the bright beams of the parting sun; 
thus the Sun of Righteousness shone upon the last moments 
of this blessed martyr 'with healing in His wings. ' On a 
sudden he was powerfully filled with God's holy comfort — 
a foretaste of heavenly joys ; clapping his hands together, 
and turning to his friend, who stood among the crowd, he 
exclaimed, 'Austen, He is come, He is come! 7 and that 
with joy and alacrity, rather as one who had been delivered 
from the fear of dying, than as one about to suffer the 
bitter pangs of a cruel death. Surely this was the Lord's 
doing." 

A call for continuance in prayer, in behalf of their 
children, is often made on parents. They pray, and yet 
see no result of their prayers ; the one they had endeav- 
ored to train up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord, runs riot in sin, goes farther and farther down the 
road to ruin, plunges deeper and deeper into vice or care- 
lessness ; surely it seems almost vain to pray for such an 
one as this. Even the very ones who would pray for this 
unhappy creature are spurned and despised by him, he 



PRAYER. 201 

would stop their prayers if he could, but the trial is per- 
haps one of continuance, and if they continue it may be 
that they will gain the victory, and this soul will be given 
to them at last. 

St. Augustine has left us, in his Confessions, an affect- 
ing account of the perseverance of a mother's love and 
prayers. True, she had to bear long ; rebuff, and scorn, 
and deceit seemed for many a year to be the only payment 
of her prayers; but " in due season, 77 says the apostle, 
"ye shall reap, if ye faint not 77 — she fainted not, and so 
she reaped. 

" My God,' 7 says St. Augustine, "thou spakest to me 
by her, and warnedst me strongly against the ways of vice. 
Thy voice in her I despised, and thought it to be only the 
voice of a woman ; which made not the least impression on 
my mind. 7 - 7 

How Augustine's mother prayed for him will best be 
seen by what he himself says in his Confessions. " In 
much ignorance I at that time derided Thy holy servants, 
and was justly exposed to believe most ridiculous absurdi- 
ties. And Thou sentest Thy hand from above, and freedst 
me from this death of evil, ivhile my mother was praying 
for me, more solicitous on account of the death of my 
soul, than other parents for the death of the body. She 
was favored with a dream, by which Thou comfortedst her 
soul with hope of my recovery. She appeared to herself 
to be standing on a plank, and a person came to her and 
asked her the cause of her affliction, and on being answered 
that it was on my account, he charged her to be of good 
cheer, for that where she was there also I should be. On 
which she immediately beheld me standing by her on the 
same plank. Whence was this but from Thee, gracious 

9* 



202 PRAYER. 

Omnipotent, who takest care of each and all of us as of 
single persons? When she related this to me, I endeav- 
ored to evade the force of it, by observing that it might 
mean to exhort her to be what I was. Without hesitation 
she replied, 4 It was not said, Where he is, there thou shalt 
be ; but, Where thou art, there he shall be.' Her prompt 
answer made a stronger impression on my mind than the 
dream itself. For nine years, ivhile I was rolling in the 
filth of sin, often attempting to rise, and still sinking 
deeper, did she, in vigorous hope, persist in incessant 
prayer. 

Augustine had been carried away with the errors of the 
Manichees, and Monica his mother, in her anxiety for his 
soul, entreated a certain bishop to undertake to reason him 
out of his errors. St. Augustine says, " He was a person 
not backward to attempt this, where he found a docile sub- 
ject. ' But your son,' says he, ' is too much elated at 
present, and carried away with the pleasing novelty of his 
error, to regard any arguments, as appears by the pleasure 
he takes in puzzling many ignorant persons with his cap- 
tious questions. Let him alone ; only continue praying to 
the Lord for him ; he will, in the course of his study, dis- 
cover his error. I myself, perverted by my mother, was 
once a Manichee, and read almost all their books, and yet 
at length was convinced of my error without the help of 
any disputant.' All this satisfied not my anxious parent ; 
with floods of tears she persisted in her request ; when at 
last he, a little out of temper, on account of her impor- 
tunity, said, ' Begone, good woman, it is not possible that 
the child of such tears should perish.' " For the space of 
nine years, viz., from the nineteenth to the twenty-eighth 
year of his age, Augustine lived, as he himself tells us, 



PRAYER. 203 

" deceived and deceiving others, seducing men into various 
lusts, openly, by what are called the liberal arts, and 
secretly, by a false religion ; in the former, proud, in the 
latter superstitious ; in all things seeking vain glory, and, 
to complete the dismal picture, a slave to the lusts of the 
flesh." In his twenty-ninth year we find his mother still 
praying j although things seemed as bad or worse than they 
had been before. God was, however, about to work a great 
change upon Augustine's heart, and as he begins to trace 
His dealings with him, he shews us his mother still pray- 
ing. " Thy hands, my God, (said he in his Confessions,) 
in the secret of Thy providence, forsook not my soul. 
Day and night the prayers of my ?nother came up before 
Thee, and Thou wroughtest upon me in ways marvellous 
indeed, but secret." Augustine sails for Rome, proposing 
to teach rhetoric in that city ; but God had arranged that 
his going there should be the first step in the immediate 
chain of providences which were to lead to his salvation. 
And where was Monica ? Following him to the sea-shore, 
to prevent his going. God's arrangement for the answer 
of her prayers were about to work the one into the other ; 
but, like many a praying mother, Monica knew not this. 
" The true cause of this removal was at that time hidden 
both from me and my mother, who bewailed me going 
away, and followed me to the sea-side ; but I deceived her, 
though she held me close, with a view either to call me 
back, or to go along with me. I pretended that I only 
meant to keep company with a friend, until he set sail ; and 
with difficulty persuaded her to remain that night in a 
place dedicated to the memory of Cyprian. But that night 
I departed privily ; and she continued weeping and praying. 
Thus did I deceive my mother, and such a mother ! Yet 



204 PKAYER. 

was I preserved from the dangers of the sea, foul as I was 
in all the mire of sin ; and a time was coming when Thou 
wouldst wipe away my mother's tears with which she 
watered the earth, and even forgive this my base unduti- 
fulness. And what did she beg of Thee, my God, at that 
time, but that I might be hindered from sailing ? Thou, 
in profound wisdom, regarding the hinge of her desire, 
neglectedst the particular object of her present prayers, 
that Thou mightest gratify the general object of her devo- 
tions. The wind favored us, and carried us out of the sight 
of the shore, when in the morning she was distracted with 
grief, and filled Thine ears with groans and complaints; 
whilst Thou, in contempt of her violent agonies, hurriedst 
me along by my lusts to complete their desires, and pun- 
ishedst her carnal desire with the just scourge of immod- 
erate griefs. She loved my presence with her, as is 
natural to mothers ; though in her the affection was un- 
commonly strong ; and she knew not what joy Thou wast 
preparing for her from my absence. She knew not, there- 
fore she wept and wailed. Yet after she had wearied her- 
self in accusing my perfidy and cruelty, she returned to 
her former employment of praying for me, and went 
home, while I went to Rome." 

At .Rome Augustine was seized with illness, and as he 
himself says, "drew nigh to hell;" and when, after his 
conversion, he writes the story of his escape from the very 
jaws of the grave, his mother's prayers are again the prom- 
inent features which meet our view. " Morning and even- 
ing," he says, "she frequented the church, to hear Thy 
word, and to pray, and the salvation of her son icas the 
constant burden of her supplications. Thou heardest 
her, Lord, and performedst in due season what Thou 



PRAYER. 205 

hadst predestinated. Thou recoveredst me from the fever, 
that at length I might obtain also a recovery of still greater 
importance.'' 

From Rome, Augustine went to Milan, and there we 
find the praying mother again. Augustine describes her 
as '-courageous through piety, following him by land and 
sea. and secure of God's favor in all dangers/*' And there 
she was, the same praying mother that she had been else- 
where, her son's salvation being her one grand absorbing 
thought. At length, the long looked, long prayed for time 
arrived, and Monica's petitions were heard. The teaching 
of Ambrose was made, in part, the means of Augustine's 
conversion; ''in part/' we say, for there was special inter- 
ferences of God in its accomplishment; and after a fierce 
struggle, after the Evil Spirit had rent and torn him, now 
throwing him into the fire, and now into the water, he was 
delivered from his power, he arose from the earth a victor 
in the strife, a converted man ! an heir of glory ! an answer 
to a mother's continued prayers ! 

The closing scene of Monica's life may cheer some sor- 
rowing parent, who has long prayed and apparently prayed 
in vain. Were not years of prayer well repaid by that one 
hour by the river side, which almost closed the intercourse 
of the praying mother and the converted son? "It was 
through thy secret appointment," says Augustine, "that 
she and I stood alone at a window facing the east, in a 
house at the mouth of the Tiber, where we were prepar- 
ing ourselves for our voyage. Our discourse was highly 
agreeable, and forgetting the past, we endeavored to con- 
ceive aright the nature of the eternal life of the saints. 
It was evident to us, that no carnal delights deserved to be 
named on this subject; erecting our spirits more ardently, 



206 PRAYER. 

we ascended above the noblest parts of the material crea- 
tion, to the consideration of our own minds, and passing 
above them, we attempted to reach heaven itself, to come 
to Thee, by whom all things were made. There our hearts 
were enamored, and there we held fast the first-fruits of 
the Spirit, and returned to the sound of our own voice, which 
gave us an emblem of the Divine Word. We said, : If the 
flesh, the imagination, and every tongue should be silenced, 
for they proclaim, " We made not ourselves, but He who 
remaineth for ever;" if these things should now hold their 
peace, and God alone should speak, not by any emblems or 
created things, but by Himself, so that we could hear His 
word ; should this be continued and other visions be with- 
drawn, and this alone seize and absorb the spectator for ever, 
is not this the meaning of " Enter thou into the joy of thy 
Lord?" ? At the moment the world appeared to us of no value : 
and she said, ' Son, I have now no delight in life. What I 
should do here, and why I am here, I know not, the hope 
of this life being quite spent. One thing only, your con- 
version, was an object for which I wished to live. My God 
has given me this in large measure. What do I here ?" ' 
Five days after this, this praying mother fell into a fe^er, 
and on the ninth day she died; but she being dead yet 
speaketh, and her voice says, " Christian mothers, continue 
in prayer." 

Yes, Christian parents, continue in prayer on behalf of 
the apparently lost and ruined one : if he go to the haunt 
of vice, let your prayers track his footsteps like angels of 
mercy; if he snatch the intoxicating glass, let your voice 
still seek for him the water of life ; if he gamble away his 
substance in riotous living, yet pray for him, that even when 
he has lost all, or, if it must be, yet through the loss of 



PRAYER. 207 

all, he may come to himself, and say, " How many hired ser- 
vants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I 
perish with hunger ! I will arise and go to my father, and 
will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, 
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy 
son, make me as one of thy hired servants.' 7 Who can tell 
at what moment and in what way. the many prayers of 
father and mother, of sisters and brothers, will put forth 
their wondrous power ? It may be that the prodigal will be 
arrested in the very midst of his career of sin, as St. Paul 
was arrested by the light from heaven, and suddenly find 
himself bound, though not with hempen ropes ; struck down, 
though not with human hand ; arrested, though not by any 
earthly writ ; at some unexpected time, in some unlikely 
place, he may find himself under the influence of a spell 
which he can neither fight against nor understand, and turn 
homeward, although perhaps he knows not why, yet never 
to leave it again. Thus have many wanderers been re- 
claimed, and their voices now swell the chorus of the 
redeemed ; and the praises which they sing, and which make 
melody in the ear of God Himself, are the fruits which 
have been brought forth by many bitter prayers !* 

" A weather-beaten sailor, on making his homeward pas- 
sage, as he doubled the stormy Gape, encountered a dread- 
ful tempest. The mother had heard of the ship outside the 

* The Rev. Dr. Leland, Professor in the Theological Seminary at Colum- 
bia, S. C, stated in a prayer meeting at Saratoga, that he had ascertained 
by personal inquiry that ninety-nine of one hundred students in that semi- 
nary received their first religious impressions from pious mothers. At 
the convention of u Young Men's Christian Association,' 1 at Troy, N. Y. 
which was attended by about two hundred and fifty young men, those 
whose mothers were praying women were asked to rise, when nearly all 
rose, thus testifying to the efficacy of the prayers of godly mothers. 



208 PEAYEK. 

Cape, and was waiting, with the anxiety a mother alone can 
know, to see her son. But now the storm had arisen, and 
that, when the ship was in the most dangerous place. 
Fearing that each blast, as it swept the raging deep, might 
howl the requiem of her son, with faith strong in God, she 
commenced praying for his safety. At this moment news 
came that the vessel was lost. 

" The father, an unconverted man, had till this pre- 
served a sullen silence, but now he wept aloud. The 
mother observed, ' It is in the hands of Him who does all 
things well ;' and again the soft and softened spirit bowed, 
commending her son and her partner, in an audible voice, 
broken only by the bursting of a full heart, to God. 

" Darkness had now spread her mantle abroad, and they 
retired — but not to rest — and anxiously waited for the 
morning, hoping, at least, that some relic of their lost one 
might be found. 

u The morning came. The winds were hushed and the 
ocean lay comparatively calm, as though its fury had sub- 
sided since its victim was no more. At this moment the 
little gate in front of the dwelling turned on its hinges, the 
door opened, and their son, their lost, loved son, stood 
before them. The vessel had been driven into one of the 
many harbors on the coast, and was safe. The father 
rushed to meet him. His mother, hanging on his neck, 
earnestly exclaimed, t My child, how came you here V 
1 Mother,' said he, as the tears coursed down his sunburnt 
face, 'I knew yottd pray me home V What a spectacle ! 
A wild, reckless youth acknowledging the efficacy of 
prayer ! It seems he was aware of his perilous situation, 
and that he labored with the thoughts, ' My mother prays 
— Christian's prayers are answered, and I may be saved.' 



PRAYER. 209 

This reflection, when almost exhausted with fatigue and 
ready to give up in despair, gave him fresh courage, and 
with renewed effort he labored till the harbor was gained. 
Christian mother, go thou and do likewise. Pray for that 
son who is likely to be wrecked in the storm of life, and his 
prospects blasted for ever. He may be saved." 

One word I would add of counsel to such as are thus 
praying. Do not shut the door against the answers to your 
prayers, do not so act as in point of fact to say, " I will 
leave no opening by which the wayward one can return. n 
Many a poor wayward one would have returned, if only the 
wanderer's path had been kept clear, if only the door of 
home had been kept upon the latch. We may learn a les- 
son from the conduct of a poor woman whose misguided 
daughter left the paternal roof, and wandered into the ways 
of sin. Many were the prayers which the mother offered 
for her misguided child ; and when she finished her prayer 
at night, the last thing she did was to go and see that the 
door was left on the latch. If her child were moved by 
God to return, she should always have a shelter to which 
to come. It was well that God put this into her heart ; 
for one night the poor girl turned her steps towards home, 
and tried the latch, and came in, and crept upstairs to her 
accustomed room, and went out to sin no more again. 
Keep the heart's door, keep the house door on the latch, 
for the answer to prayer may come in an hour of which 
you are not aware ; that heart, that house, is not degraded 
which has written upon its portals, " The wanderer's 
home." 

The subjects of Intensity hi Prayer, and of Belief in 
Prayer, will meet us in subsequent pages, we need not 
therefore dwell upon them here, even though they be 



210 PRAYER. 

brought before us by the passage which we have been con- 
sidering ; there is one point, however, to which I wish to 
draw attention before this chapter come to a close; i. e., 
the marvel of our voice being heard at all. " Evening, 
morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud : and He 
shall hear my voice." 

It is indeed a wonder that our voice is heard at all ! So 
weak, so broken is it at times, that it seems marvellous 
that it should be heard, even in silence the most intense. 
But heard it is, not in the midst of silence, but of myriad 
sounds. The cries of a groaning world are entering the 
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth ; the songs of praising and 
adoring beings are ascending continually before His throne ; 
the rush of myriad worlds as they whirl through space, is 
listened to by the One from whose hand they were rolled 
forth upon their wondrous paths ! but despite all these, the 
mind of the Infinite One is undistracted, and listens in 
undisturbed calmness to the whisperings of the least among 
His saints. my soul, be deep in thy belief of this : and 
in that belief, even though thou canst pray with but a whis- 
pering voice, yet pray ; let the belief of the Psalmist be 
also thine, " Evening, morning, and at noon will I pray, 
and cry aloud : and He shall hear my voice" 



»¥ 



rv 
me "M Witt" of %mtt in ©wwftdmfog itawMe. 

Psalm lxi, 2. u From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my 
heart is overwhelmed : lead me to the rock that is higher than 7." 

E are told in the word of God, that " man is 
j born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward ;" and 
these troubles, which are the heritage of man as 
a poor fallen sinner, are not only many, but 
also various ; so that each man has plagues which his own 
heart knows, and which are, perhaps, unknown to all 
beside. To this heritage, you and I, dear reader, were 
born, and into it we have come : the heritages of earthly 
lands and gold are alienable, but the heritage of sorrow is 
sure. 

These troubles are, as we have just observed, of various 
kinds ; some are provoking, some are gnawing, some are 
perplexing, and some are overwhelming ; but whatever 
form they assume, they are troubles, and are part of the 
wear and tear of life. 

There is a class of troubles which is eminently provoking. 
Perhaps no serious results hang upon them, but they are 
peculiarly calculated to try and vex our tempers, to stir up 
our feelings, to disturb the equanimity of our minds, to 
excite our combative propensities ; they are the stones in 
the shoes of daily life, and as such they are troubles, and it 
would be foolish to call them by any other name. 



212 PRAYER. 

There is another class, which might be caJled gnawing 
troubles. Such eat slowly into the heart's vitals ; such fret 
silently, as the moth does the garment ; they destroy life's 
brightest colorings, and its most beautiful patterns, and 
leave nothing but the wreck and ruin wherever their tooth 
has come. There are many in the world who have a gnaw- 
ing at their hearts, which is to them w T hat the canker is to 
the bud ; it eats silently and surely, and leaves a few shriv- 
elled leaves, where there might have been a bunch of full- 
blown flowers. 

Some are afflicted with perplexing and distressing 
troubles. Such troubles do not gnaw the heart, they are 
too intrusive and pressing for that ; they put a person to his 
wits' ends ; they confuse and harass him, and almost wear 
him out by the anxiety to which they expose him. Such 
are very often the troubles of trade ; of mothers with large 
families ; of persons placed in difficult circumstances in life, 
and so forth ; and many a time they are half driven out of 
their senses, by the dilemmas in which they are placed. 
If only they knew what to do, they would do it ; but 
that is the perplexity, and it undeniably brings its trouble 
with it. 

Then, there are overwhelming troubles. Troubles which 
sweep over a man, just as the mighty billows of the ocean 
sweep over, and submerge the sands. These are troubles 
which struggle with us, as it were, for life and death ; 
troubles which would leave us helpless wrecks ; troubles 
which enter into conflict with us in our prime, which grap- 
ple with us in our health and strength, and threaten to 
conquer us by sheer force, no matter how bravely we may 
contend. Such trouble the Psalmist knew. " When my 



PRAYER. 213 

heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the Rock that is higher 
than I." 

It is not. however, in this latter class of trouble alone 
that we have need to take up the Psalmist's determination, 
and say, £i I will cry unto Thee.' 7 There is but the one 
refuge in all trouble, be it great or small, and if we seek 
any other, we shall assuredly but increase our distress. He 
who is our refuse in the greater, 'will not refuse to be our 
refuge in the lesser also ; the same love which will befriend 
us in the overwhelmings of trouble, will not cast us off in 
the time of perplexities and provocation. 

In the present chapter, we have to occupy ourselves in 
deep waters, and passing from all minor trials, to consider 
those overwhelmings, in which we need the Rock that is 
higher than ourselves. 

Cryings from the ends of the earth. 

Crying s hi overwhelming of heart, and 

The heart's cry and desire under these circumstances^ 
are to form the subjects of our consideration now. 

And first, a few words are to be said about i: Cryings 
from the ends of the earth'' The centre of all worship 
was Jerusalem. " whither the tribes go up, the tribes of 
the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto 
the name of the Lord:*' Psalm cxxii, 4. To be prevented 
then from coming ud to Jerusalem was a serious trouble to 
any one who really loved God, and stood in covenant re- 
lationship to Him. " How amiable (says the Psalmist in 
Psalm lxxxiv) are Thy tabernacles, Lord of Hosts. My 
soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord, 
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the Living God. a 
day in Thy courts is better than a thousand, I had rather 



214 PRAYER. 

be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in 
the tents of wickedness." 

The Psalmist here puts himself in the position of one 
who is not only prevented for a season from coming up to 
the holy place, but who is driven as far as possible there- 
from — even to the ends of the earth ; he is separated from 
all ordinances, helps, and privileges, but he will not on 
that account allow himself to be separated from his God ; 
" from the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee." 

There are some who seem to be living on ordinances 
rather than on God, and separation from them seems almost 
to bring death into their souls ; they know much of a God 
in ordinances, they know comparatively little of a God 
without ordinances. 

Now ordinances are very precious, and so weak are we, 
that we need all the helps we can get ; but what, if we be 
deprived of them, if we be as it were driven to the ends of 
the earth ? 

This may happen to us. Some of God's dear children 
have been laid for years upon beds of sickness, and some 
have been located in distant regions, and others have had 
their lots cast amid unsympathetic and ungodly people, so 
that they have been constrained to cry, u Woe is me, that I 
sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar ; my 
soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace." 

Under these circumstances what is to be done? We 
must cry unto God, from the place and position in which 
we are, as Jonah did; and not wait until we are more 
favorably circumstanced, for thus we might have to wait 
for ever. God expects us to make the best of the circum- 
stances in which we are placed. 

Let us be careful not to allow ourselves to be overcome 



PRAYER. 215 

by the depression which is the natural consequent of a 
position of isolation, and deprivation of privilege and help. 
We are not without privilege even when visible privileges 
are removed ; we have the highest privilege, then, of all ; 
we can cry to God direct ; our cry will ascend straight to 
His throne from the end of the earth. 

Here there is assuredly great encouragement for many an 
unhappily situated child of God ; perhaps in his family, 
father and mother, sisters and brothers, are all against him ; 
perhaps in the lone corner of some far off settlement, he 
never hears the sound of the Sabbath bell, he never sees the 
face of a minister of God ; or it may be, that year after 
year he lies upon a bed of suffering and pain ; oh let him 
not be downhearted; oh let him not think himself an outcast 
from the throne of heaven, from the mercy seat, from the 
altar, from " The Priest!" If Jesus be ours, we may cry 
from the ends of the earth, as well as from those spots 
which man has most consecrated to the worship of the Lord ; 
no matter where we are, we come in a moment before the 
mercy seat, we bring our sacrifice to the altar, we have the 
services of a priest, the services of Jesus, who knows in His 
wide-spread power no limit of time, no boundary of space. 

We now come to consider over whelming s of heart — 
times of sad and bitter trial, with which many a tempest- 
tost child of God is only too familiar, and in which the cry 
to Him is the only available resource. We have many in- 
stances of these overwhelmings in the Psalms. Psalms cii, 
lxxvii, part of Psalm cvii, and Psalm cxlii, will serve as 
examples;^ and our business now is, to enquire into the 
condition of the poor heart when thus overwhelmed. 

* Jonah is a fit representation of a man crying from the ends of the 



216 PRAYER. 

The idea that is brought before us here, is that of a man 
amid the waters — over whom those waters have the mastery 
— who would fain buffet with them if he could— but who is 
conquered by them, so that, unless there be an interference 
on his behalf, he must die. In such an overwhelming; 

The ?iatnral povier of resistance is gone, Man makes 
a great deal of his natural powers ; he will always use them 
to repel anything which threatens injury to his life ; but he 
may be reduced to such a state as not to be able to put 
forth those powers at all. His eagerness to act may be as 
intense as ever, his dread of injury as acute, but his natural 
powers of resistance are gone. We can scarcely imagine 
any circumstances more distressing than these ; if the mind 
were stupified, and the impending danger thus unappreci- 
ated, the case would not be half so bad; but to feel the 
enemy coming upon us, or it may be, actually upon us, and 
to have no power of resistance, is terrible indeed. The man 
overwhelmed by waters, with his strength exhausted, and 
his limbs powerless to resist, but flung hither and thither by 
the wild billows at their will, must feel his last few moments 
of perfect consciousness terrible indeed ; and yet this is the 

earth, and from amidst overwhelmings of the most terrible kind. " Then 
Jonah cried unto the Lord his G-od, out of the fish's belly, and said : ' I 
cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me, out of 
the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.' For Thou hadst 
cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed 
me about ; all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. Then I said, 
1 1 am cast out of Thy sight ; yet I will look again toward Thy holy 
temple.' The waters compassed me about, even to the soul ; the depth 
closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went 
down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was 
about me for ever ; yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, 
Lord my God. When my soul fainted wb bin me I remembered the Lord, 
and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple." Jonah ii, 1 — 7. 



PRAYER. 217 

condition of children of God at times. Men who have been 
down in deep waters will tell you that they have been thus 
tossed to and fro, and that they have had a terrible con- 
sciousness of the power of the enemy, and of their own help- 
lessness while they were thus tried. There are many de- 
grees of spiritual trial, which we can resist by the exercise 
of, what I might be permitted to call, the natural powers of 
the soul. We can throw off many doubts by reasoning 
against them, and we can overcome many temptations by a 
simple determination that we will have nothing to do with 
them ; but in circumstances like the present we have lost 
our old powers, we cannot resist, we are paralyzed for a 
season. Intense depression generally accompanies such a 
state as this ; we have ceased to be what we used to be 
formerly, and as we miss the old powers which we once exer- 
cised with effect, we feel inclined to say, There remains noth- 
ing for us but to die. 

At such a season as this, where is our faith ? I do not 
mean any extraordinary faith, but the simple, ordinary faith 
wherewith we carried on the ordinary business of our spirit- 
ual life. We used to do a good deal through the instru- 
mentality of that faith; it seemed just as natural to us in 
daily use, as any of the ordinary powers of our bodies ; we 
threw off many Satanic assaults by it ; now it can do abso- 
lutely nothing: we judge ourselves and say, " we have no 
faith at all." This is, no doubt, being brought very low; 
and when we are in this state, there are no fierce strugglings 
of soul ; we are too nearly drowned for them ; we are past 
struggling, and we seem to be almost at the mercy of the 
Evil one. 

As to our love to God, there was a time when we could 
have done much through that also ; that love would have 

10 



218 PRAYER. 

carried us through great trials, it would, by the simple fact 
of its keeping us close to Christ, have enabled us to defeat 
many of the temptations which are now almost triumphant : 
but now that love seems cold, it appears to us to have lost 
its energies, it certainly does not keep our heart in peace as 
it used to do. The very consciousness of our dead state as 
regards love helps to unnerve us, and to make us more help- 
less amid the waves which buffet and submerge us. Some 
of our readers have, perhaps, never had any sad experiences 
like these, but others no doubt have ; they have felt them- 
selves helpless amid the billows, their powers were numbed, 
and their case seemed well-nigh as bad as it could be. Oh ! 
what an inexpressible mercy is it, that when we are thus 
bereft of our ordinary spiritual powers, and apparently at 
the mercy of every billow that dashes over us, we are not 
left to "self," or "selPs" resources, or anything belonging 
to " self" at all; that One whom the spiritual as well as 
the natural waves must obey, is ready to put forth His Sove- 
reign power on our behalf! But for this, many a Christian 
man must have been drowned ; but for this, the demons of 
the storm must have had their own way with him ; his limbs 
were unstrung, his eyes were blinded, his brain was reeling, 
his heart was chilling ; and what hindered their doing with 
him even as they listed ? God gave his poor child, under 
these circumstances, just strength enough to cry to Him ; 
the cry was perhaps feeble ; it was almost drowned by the 
violence of the storm ; it seemed more like the gurgling of 
a drowning man than anything else, but it was a prayer, and 
the prayer-hearing and prayer-honoring God did not despise 
it ; He heard, and when He hears His child is safe. 

Let us, when we find our ordinary powers of resistance 
gone, take care lest we abandon ourselves to despair, as 



PRAYER. 219 

though now, indeed, there is no hope, now we must most 
surely die. It is true we must abandon all hope in " self;"' 
we must feel ourselves impotent, like Samson shorn of his 
locks, but we can utter a cry, be it never so subdued : let 
us utter it and leave the rest to God. 

The heart is here represented to us as being overwhelmed, 
or, as it is otherwise translated, " covered- over ;" it is 
smothered in, unable to perform its functions with proper 
action, unable to throw out the blood to the extremities, to 
give them needed vitality, and power for necessary effort. 
When the action of the heart is paralyzed, even temporally, 
it will tell upon all the members, a chill there sends its cold 
vibration through every limb ; Satan knows this well, and 
so all his dealings are heart dealings, efforts to paralyze the 
very spring of life itself. This is precisely what we our- 
selves have experienced, we have partially felt death within 
us, we have felt a gradual numbing of our heart, a gradual 
diminution in the quickness of its beat, a gradual closing 
in, and pressure of a weight upon it, and this was the over- 
whelming process. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ had overwhelmings, and it will 
be worth our while reverentially to consider them for a mo- 
ment. They were unlike ours, inasmuch as they could not 
in any wise impair the vitality of His heart : but they 
were like ours, inasmuch as they were able to inflict upon 
Him oppression and pain. Jesus' heart was unquestionably 
overwhelmed in Gethsemane, and still more so upon Cal- 
vary : there the heavy waters came in upon His soul, but 
we know that His vitality, His power of action, was in 
nowise impaired; in Gethsemane He says, " The cup that 
My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" and on 
Calvary, on the cross, He is stronger in action than ever 



220 PRAYER. 

He was elsewhere, He laid down His life, no man took it 
from Him, He laid it down of Himself; He had to die as 
a deliberate act.^ 

We must die whether we will or not ; He had to will to 
die : and He did so will, and He carried out that will, by 
formally giving up His life ; and so in the hour when He 
was most overwhelmed, He put forth the greatest power of 
action, and proved that no crushing, no overwhelming, 
could touch for a moment the vitality which dwelt in Him. 
Does this not speak to us and say, " If Jesus was so power- 
ful on behalf of His people in the dark hour when His 
heart was overwhelmed, what must He now be, when this 
pressure is removed, and His heart beats freely in love to 
them at the right hand of His Father's throne ?" 

It was necessary that Jesus should take experience of 
overwhelmings of heart, as well as of the other temptations 
and trials to which poor human nature is subject; " He 
was tempted in all points like as we are," and this must 
not be excluded. It is a matter of great moment to us, 
that we should be enabled to see that Jesus endured over- 
whelmings ; for if we are sustained in other trials by think- 
ing that He had experience of them, how shall we be sus- 
tained in this except in the same way ? 

Let us now look at some of the overwhelmings which 
come in upon the believer's soul, in which his only resource 
is prayer. 

There are times when the poor heart is completely over- 

* Matthew xxvii, 50. ktyrjue to nvevfza, " He gave up the ghost," 
rather, " He dismissed His Spirit." He acted as the priest. He was not 
only passive as the sacrifice, but active in cutting short His life. None 
took it from Him. 



PRAYER. 221 

whelmed by visions of sin. The memory with all its 
powers awakes and reproduces, with terrible distinctness, 
the sounds and sights of, as we thought, bygone days. The 
remembrance of these things is grievous to us, the burden 
is intolerable : we shrink within ourselves ; we wince at the 
fearful visions which come before our minds. We had no 
such fearful visions when we were committing sin, sin is 
sweet at the moment ; its bitterness is in its dregs, its 
memories, its judgment. And now, in the believer's case, 
the remembrance of sin is made ten-fold worse, from the 
knowledge which he has acquired of the holiness of God ; 
and the vision of sin comes upon him with that extra power. 
Perhaps since last he had such a vision, he has increased 
in knowledge of God's holiness and character ; and thus 
his sin becomes subjected to a stricter test than any by 
which it had ever been tried before, and so, deeper over- 
whelmings are his portion now. Such visions of sin are 
able with great ease to gain the mastery over any spiritual 
powers which the believer may possess ; they can soon 
drown him, there is no use in his attempting to buffet them, 
they will dash him to and fro, they will numb his vitality, 
they will break his limbs in pieces ; prayer is the Chris- 
tian's only resource under these circumstances — the prayer 
which we find here — that he may be led to the rock that is 
higher than he. 

It may be that these visions of sin are not the heavy 
waters in which he is cast ; doubts of Divine love are, 
perhaps, his trouble. Not doubts of God's love generally, 
but of that love as beaming upon himself personally. 
Hiding of the Father's face is bitterness to the soul ; and 
when doubts come in upon the soul which hide out the 
sense of God's love, the overwhelming waters might be said 



222 PRAYER. 

to have begun to break over our heads. Such doubts have 
come terribly upon many who are plainly marked people of 
God ; they have rolled in one after another upon the heart, 
until at length they have brought with them actual despair ; 
and all that the poor tempest-tossed believer could do, was 
just to utter such words as we have here, " Lead me to the 
rock that is higher than I." 

A remarkable instance of a soul under this trouble came 
under the author's observation some years ago. A Chris- 
tian man, who had served God for a lifetime, was seized 
with consumption. The repeated visits of the attending 
minister seemed to afford no consolation, and, in truth, all 
the ordinary means of comforting were tried in vain. Thus 
matters w T ent on for a long time, and at length the invalid 
went abroad for the winter. At the end of the winter he 
returned, and the minister having heard that he continued 
in the same state of mind as before, held back from visiting 
him. The invalid, however, desired to partake of the Holy 
Communion, and so his pastor went to him. It was a very 
painful scene ; the agitation of this poor afflicted Christian 
was such that all present w T ere greatly distressed. For 
many weeks did he linger, the minister now visiting him 
regularly as before, but the same distressing doubts con- 
tinued ; and to all human appearance, they were likely to 
shroud him even in his departure. The mercy of God, 
however, at length dispelled the gloom. One night the 
sick man asked for his dressing things, and washed and 
shaved himself; then he asked for a clean shirt, and when 
he put it on, and was set up in the bed, he said, " Now I 
am dressed for my last journey ;" thus he remained for a 
couple of hours, w 7 hen lo ! all clouds and mists rolled from 
before his eyes ; the light of heaven shone in upon him, a 



PRAYER. 223 

ray of brightness streamed through the golden gates upon 
his soul, and he departed full of joy. 

After the death of this worthy man, the author visited 
his widow, and found from her that one of the strongest 
characteristics of her departed husband's mind was the 
doubting of the love of others to him. Satan, ever on the 
watch to use our own peculiarities of character against our- 
selves ; and ever skilful in working with the tools which he 
finds ready to his hand, gave this Christian man months, 
and even two years of grief in this very way. We often 
supply ourselves the waters for our own overwhelming. 

Our very sense of weakness has. at times, proved an 
overwhelming billow. Thrown in upon ourselves, we have 
been fiercely agitated with thoughts as to what would 
become of us at last ; and Satan pressed us hard ; he exer- 
cised his pressure upon our very weakest points ; and in a 
short timo we felt ourselves amid the waters, with no pos- 
sibility of escape, unless by the interference of One far 
stronger than ourselves. 

These will serve as specimens of the overwhelmings 
which come over the people of the Lord ; but they are 
only specimens ; Satan's waves and billows are as many as 
those which break upon the shore, or toss and swell in the 
open sea. He has the means of overwhelming every heart, 
and when he makes the attempt, our only refuge is in 
prayer. Very possibly some of our readers may not be 
often subjected to such fierce temptations as these; but they 
may rest assured that Satan will not allow any soul to gain 
the haven of everlasting rest, without having first tried 
upon it his overwhelming powers. 

Let us turn for a moment or two to the overwhelming 



224 PRAYER. 

troubles which come in upon the poor heart, in things per- 
taining, it is true, only to this life, but still of great 
importance to us while we are here. Overwhelmings of 
heart are often the lot of man, as he performs the voyage 
of life. This man is overwhelmed by the treachery of a 
friend, whose iniquity has ruined him ; and this woman is 
overwhelmed by the conduct of the child she reared, amid 
many watchings and many tears ; look on this side, and 
you will see one who has his heart overwhelmed by the loss 
of the one he held most dear ; he is choking under the deep 
waters of bitterest sorrow ; and they are howling and dash- 
ing over his devoted head ; look but a little distance off, 
and there is another, who to all appearance must drown, 
suffocating under the prospect of trial which must surely 
come ; (and which is perhaps worse in the anticipation than 
in the event.) Let us not make light of any of these 
things; they are overwhelmings, and in the case of men 
unhelped of God, they have proved themselves so, by 
taking away even life itself. Oh ! be advised, dear read- 
ers, never to face these billows alone; you have no strength 
in yourselves for bearing up, amid the deep waters of grief; 
when first they begin to break in upon you, ask to be led 
to the rock that is higher than you. 

Would that we could persuade the Lord's people who 
read these lines, to believe that the overwhelmings which 
have reference to this life, are to be brought before God, 
just us much as those which appertain to another. Would 
that we could dissuade them from the attempt to buffet the 
waves by themselves, for this buffeting must end in their 
being sorely hurt ; the longer we buffet by ourselves, the 
deeper shall we find the water becoming, the stronger the 
billows, the fiercer their crest, and the more impetuous 



PRAYER. 225 

their rush ; yes, and the weaker also our strength. 
child of God, when first the waters begin to rise, seek 
refuge in prayer : and if thou must be tried in the heavy 
surges of temptation or of sorrow, prepare for them upon 
thy knees ; as the camel kneels to receive its load, so kneel 
thou to receive thine; say, " When my heart is over- 
whelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I !" 

Such, then, are overwhelmings of heart, some of which 
are peculiar to the believer, others of which he shares in 
common with his fellow-men. 

We come now to the hearts cry and desire under thesQ 
circumstances. 

We trace here several points of considerable importance. 
There is, first of all, a recognition of a place of safety ; 
then we have this place brought before us, as abundantly 
sufficient, when personal weakness has been realized ; 
we observe further, that this place cannot be attained with- 
out the helping of another ] s hand; and lastly we have 
the character of this refuge, and the position of a 
believer when availing himself of it ; the place of refuge 
is u a rock," and the position of the believer is " upon a 
rock." 

The bare recognition of a place of safety is, in itself, a 
matter of great importance. To know that there is a 
refuge, that we need not perish, is cheering to the heart ; 
nothing so daunts the spirit, and numbs every energy 
which otherwise might have been put forth, as the feeling 
of despair, that " it is all no use," that we cannot escape. 
If only we believe in the existence of a place of safety, and 
that it is possible for us to reach it, we shall feel our 
spirits revive ; hope will enter into, and vivify the heart ; 

10* 



226 - PRAYER. 

and even though desperate struggles must be made, still 
the heart will rise to the emergency, and success shall 
crown its efforts and its prayers. 

That, however, with which we now have to do, is not so 
much personal effort, as prayer made with the recognition 
of a place of safety. It may be that w r e feel we cannot by 
any struggling of ours attain that place of safety ; that it 
may be like a rock seen by the drowning man, but at too 
great a distance to be reached by his failing strength ; if 
the recognition of it give us strength to cry, that will be 
of incalculable worth. 

The Psalmist saw the rock ; oh ! may you, dear Teader, 
ever see safe standing ground, in the worst trial times. 
May Satan never be able to say to you, " You are hope- 
less as well as helpless ; there is no way of escape for you." 
Ever let us recognize the place of safety ; let us say, u It 
exists ; I know where it is ; my belief in that point cannot 
be shaken." It is true this is no very high putting forth 
of Christian grace, (and yet in overwhelming circumstances 
it is perhaps higher than some suppose,) but though not a 
high, it is a most useful and important one; many a 
tempest-tossed believer has effectively made his escape by 
prayer which was put up under the consciousness of this 
fact. Should the overwhelming be so terrible as to make 
the tried and tempted man say, " I doubt whether Christ 
ivill save me,' 7 oh ! may it never pass that boundary, 
and make him say, " I doubt whether Christ can 
save me." 

In the passage which we are now considering, w T e have 
the place of safety brought before us, as abundantly suf- 
ficient, token personal iceakness has been realized. 



PRAYER. 227 

Personal weakness had been realized, for the heart had 
been overwhelmed; now that which alone could avail under 
the present sad circumstances, is realized also, viz., the 
high Rock, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." 
The solidity of the Rock is brought into contrast with the 
weakness of the believer tossed to and fro : it stands un- 
moved amid the waves, while he is beaten about amidst 
them, almost at their will. There is no more apt image of 
the position which the Lord Jesus occupies towards His 
people, in the terrible hours of overwhelming temptation, 
than this of "the Rock.' 7 The Rock stands immovable 
amid the boiling waters, which at times sweep against it 
with heavy and unbroken billows, as though they would 
push it from its base, and at times leap towards it with 
seething foam, as though they would tear it into pieces, and 
in their rage sweep in its fragments upon the shore, to add to 
the water-worn shingle there : now with a deep-toned boom, 
like the shot of a heavy gun, one mighty broad-backed bil- 
low discharges against it all its might; and now, jostling and 
crowding, a multitude follow quickly in its path, as though 
they would fling themselves into the breach which this 
artillery had made ; the shriek of the winds is heard in 
horrid distinctness, as they madden the billows, and lash 
them onward, with fresh paroxysms of rage ; but motion- 
less amid both winds and waves, without the loss of even 
the smallest fragment, stands the Rock, silent, majestic, 
and unmoved, the same in storm as in calm. Such is "the 
Rock," and such is Jesus ; and such He has appeared to 
His people, ofttimes battered, and almost smothered amid 
such waves as these. And it is very important to God's 
people to remember, that this Rock is always to be found 
amid these heaving billows, these boiling surges of the 



228 PRAYER. 

devil ; let them rage their very worst, there He is, and 
there, for His people's sake, He ever must be found. 

But not only is the Rock recognised, but also its height 
— this is no sunken rock, whose sharp and jagged edges 
submerged beneath the waters, amid which the believer is 
being tossed, must have added fearfully to his distress, 
lacerating and bruising him, and conspiring with the waves 
to take away his life. No, this is a Rock higher than him- 
self, on which he can stand, whose foundation and whose 
height are equally beyond the reach of any power which 
the enemy can put forth. This is the recognition of the 
Psalmist here; he calls it "the Rock that is higher 
than L" 

There is great instruction in these last few words. Self 
has been seen in all its weakness ; it Is now proved that it 
can do nothing ; safety must be out of self, it must be in 
something higher than self, it must be in Christ. And 
Jesus is abundantly sufficient for us ; let us but see this, 
and laying self aside altogether, seek to stand on Him, and 
all will be surely well with us. We waste much strength, 
we incur much peril, in trying to keep our own heads above 
water ; this is a vain attempt ; the billows are much higher, 
and the waves are much stronger than we are ; we are not 
constructed to fight these spiritual billows by ourselves, any 
more than the body is to contend with the sweeping billows 
of the seas. To buffet the waters was not the intent for 
which the body was made ; to buffet the temptations of the 
Devil was not the purpose for which the soul was created ; 
this has come no doubt to be its lot, but it is not furnished 
with any powers by which it can do it in itself; that o$ 
which we stand must be something higher than ourselves, 
if wo are to stand at all. 



PRAYER. 229 

In times, then, of fierce overwhelmings, let us look at 
once for the high Rock ; let us seek for nothing from self, 
let us just cry to have our feet set on Christ; then we 
shall feel that we have firm ground under us ; then we 
shall see the waves toss themselves, and we shall hear them 
roar ; then we shall look at them as they curl upwards, 
and at last sink down exhausted, spent by their own fierce 
throes ; and we shall rejoice that all we have to do is sim- 
ply to stand on Christ, to be in union with Him, while He 
bears the storm's brunt, and at once defies and defeats its 
utmost rage. Stand, beloved Christian, upon the Rock ; if 
you ask, But what shall I do ? I answer, Only make 
sure that you are there ; feel the Rock under you ; then, 
as when a tempest-tossed mariner has reached a rock, the 
contest is no longer between the waves and him, but be- 
tween the waves and the rock ; so when you are on Christy 
the contest will not be between you and Satan, but between 
Christ and him. Unless Satan can vanquish Christ, the 
Christian must be safe. 

There remains one further particular to be looked at, 
and i. e., the fact that this place cannot be realized with- 
oat the helping of another ' s hand. The Psalmist here 
desires to be led to the Rock that is higher than he was. 
In Psalms xxvii and xlii we find him recognising the Lord 
as the One who not only provided the shelter, but also who 
enabled him to reach it. C: He shall set me up upon a 
rock." " He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, 
out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and 
established my goings. " 

This helping hand of God we have brought before us in 
Psalm xviii ; here we meet with the floods and deep waters; 



230 PRAYER. 

"the sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of 
ungodly men made me afraid, the sorrows of hell compassed 
me about, the snares of death prevented me ;" there were 
terrible dealings of God also, for " the channels of waters 
were seen and the foundations of the world were discovered 
at Thy rebuke, Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy 
nostrils!" then what happened? " He sent from above, 
He took me, He drew me out of many waters." 

If we w T ould find ourselves upon the Rock, and enjoy the 
realization of being so, we must be dependent upon another's 
hand. And that hand can do everything for us, even in 
our worst of times. When we are so blinded by the salt 
waves that dash into our eyes, so reeling in brain that we 
cannot perhaps think, much less make continuous efforts, 
there is a hand which can lead us, which can draw us out 
of the waters, which can set our feet upon the Rock. 
Surely we have already experienced the power and tender- 
ness of that hand ; and it may be that in the reader's case, 
the waves, as they made sure of their prey, found it super- 
naturally drawn forth from them, that it might be set upon 
a Rock, immovable amid all waters, and sufficient amid all 
storms ! 




m* "£ W" ni *&wx in WtmWt. 

(concluded.) 

Psalm c x x i , 1. U I vnll lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence 
cometh my help." 

)HERE is one resource, of which no tyranny of 
man, no complication of circumstances, can de- 
prive the Christian; i. e., Prayer. 
The limbs may be chained, so that neither hand 
nor foot can be stirred in self-defence ; the view of the 
natural heavens may be shut out, by the dark dungeon's 
arching wall ; yea, the very eyesight may be extinguished, 
so that the dull and heavy balls will reflect no objects in 
the heavens above, or in the earth beneath ; still the man 
of God can come into the posture of prayer in his soul, can 
lift up his eyes to the heaven of heavens, can worship, can 
supplicate, in a word, can pray. 

Blessed be God that this is so ; for the body is oftentimes 
so circumstanced that it cannot use hand, or knee, or eye 
in prayer. 

This chapter concludes the portion of our subject which 
has reference to prayer in Trouble; and in the passage 
which it is designed to illustrate, we have these thoughts 
prominently brought before us. 

I. The elevation of the Christian above surrounding 
circumstances. 



232 PRAYER. 

II. The power of spiritual sight in prayer. 
III. The definite point on which the eye is fixed. 

The Psalmist says, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the 
hills;" his own position, then, appears to be in the valleys 
in the low ground ; and it does not appear that he can extri- 
cate himself from them; all that he can do, under present 
circumstances, is to look unto the hills. 

Many of the Lord's people are obliged to walk, for a long 
and weary while, in the valleys ; they have to go from one 
valley to another ; and the atmosphere of these valleys is 
very damp and chilling to the soul. In some dark places 
the deadly night-shade grows ; from some gloomy caverns 
ill-omened creatures hoot ; the footstep loses its elasticity, 
the heart its bound, and the wonder is, how some of these 
valleys are ever passed safely through. It is true that all 
valleys are not so bad as this ; there are some which are 
simply dark and cold, some which are rough and lonely, 
and some which are depressing, because for many a long 
and weary mile, they shut out the surrounding scenery, 
with all its variety and life ; but whatever the peculiarity 
of each valley, it is able to act upon the man that travels 
through it ; and who can tell what such places have wit- 
nessed, in the way of deep depressions of soul ? But why 
not make our escape out of these valleys? -Simply be- 
cause Ave cannot; and because God never intended that 
we should be able to do so ; His design towards us is, that 
we should be taught to lift up our eyes unto the hills ; that 
we should journey through the valleys, looking to higher 
ground for all needful help. What Grod often has in view 
for His children, is helping them in the valley, rather than 
helping them out of it. 

What long and lonely journeyings have been made, by 



PRAYER. 233 

many a widowed, many an orphaned heart ; the rocks which 
shut in their valley were high ; a glimmering light, seldom 
stronger than the twilight of the evening, was all they had 
to illumine their weary path ; and as day after day passed 
on, and night after night, these foot-sore travellers said, 
: * Lord, how long ?" 

What long and lonely journey ings have been performed 
by poverty-stricken men and women, who often tried to 
scale the precipice sides of the barren valley through which 
they travelled, but they could not ; and faint and cowed, 
their very heart withering within them, they struggled for- 
ward another day's journey, without any motive or any aim. 

What dark and dismal journeyings have some Christians 
performed, in valleys where they seemed to be especially 
exposed to Satanic temptation, where the Evil One could 
cause horrid, slimy temptations to cross their path ; where 
poisonous food seemed all that there was to eat; where 
unearthly sounds whispered, and hooted, and reverberated, 
and echoed, and re-echoed again ; until the poor wayfarer 
seemed almost driven out of his senses, as though but yet 
a little more, and he must go mad. Oh ! this is a dreadful 
valley, it is one not travelled by all believers, but it is one 
only too well known to others. What is there, which the 
poor believer has not heard in this terrible place ? He shud- 
ders ! he hears a whisper, it says, ••There is no God at 
all." He shivers with cold ! he has put his foot upon some 
icy, slimy things, and there runs through his soul a chill 
shiver of terror ; a thought has been infused into his heart 
that if there be a God He does not care for him. What 
wild and unearthly hoot is that which now startles him 
afresh ? It is an evil spirit, hooting out that all Christi ins 
are fools ; and that the wayfarer's Christianity has brought 



234 PRAYER. 

him into this valley ; and that he is a fool for having come 
into it, for that his old neighbors and friends, who troubled 
not themselves about these things, are in the sunshine, and 
well off enough. A hissing sound from some reptile now 
vibrates upon his ear; ah, who can tellwhat that serpent 
would have done, had not some unseen influence made it 
glide harmlessly away ? Perhaps that was some evil, which 
no one in human flesh could have resisted, and which the 
Lord in mercy dealt with Himself. Now the Christian 
hears a whisper, " Make away with yourself;" now he 
hears sounds which have no meaning, but which confuse 
him, (and that is their design.) Thus it is with some poor 
souls ; oh ! wonder of grace, and superhuman power, and 
love, that they ever reach heaven at all. 

Dear reader, to you, if unexercised in such dark valleys 
as this, all that has now been said, may seem an over- 
charged account of temptations, which are common to all. 
This is not so ; all men are not tempted to infidelity, to 
suicide, to despair, and to such like things ; there are dark 
valleys, the inside of which some men never see ; why one 
should see them, and not another, must be left with God ; 
we cannot explain how this comes to pass, but into this very 
valley, of which I have been speaking now, some of the very 
holiest of God's people have been cast ; and in it, they have 
performed no inconsiderable part of their journey towards 
their present rest. 

The point, however, to which our attention is to be 
especially directed, is, Elevation above surrounding cir- 
cumstances, and that elevation, in prayer. The Psalmist 
says, " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence 
cometh my help." 



PRAYER, 235 

The hills towered above the valleys ; and all that the 
Psalmist could do, was to lift up his eyes in prayer, to a 
height far above the place in which he was. In our times 
of distress, our valley journeyings, whether the valley be 
simply a lonely one, or one of stony poverty, or one of dark- 
ness and terrible distress, let us look up, let us fix our eyes 
on the hills, yea, above the hills: let us say, "My help 
cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." 
Looking at surrounding circumstances has often been the 
sore hurt of the children of God; we must not venture 
upon it ; we must fix our eyes on the face of God ; and He 
must discern prayer in those eyes, if we are to be safe. 
Our blessed Redeemer lifted up His eyes to heaven. When 
He stood by the grave of Lazarus, and the stone was taken 
away, and He was about to enter into immediate conflict 
with death, withdrawing from him his prey, He " lifted up 
His eyes, and said. Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast 
heard me. And I knew that Thou nearest me always : 
but because of the people which stand by I said it, that 
they may believe that Thou hast sent me. And when He 
thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, 
come forth.*' John xi, 43. And when the Saviour was 
about to pass over the brook Cedron, and enter the horrors 
of Gethsemane, He looked up above all surrounding gloom, 
and beheld the face of His Father, on behalf of His dis- 
ciples, yea, and also of Himself. " These words spake 
Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, 
the hour is come ; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may 
glorify Thee." John xvii, 1. 

In our trial time we must lift up our eyes — we must not 
try and pierce the far distance ; we must not speculate, and 
derive our comfort from thoughts that matters may turn 



236 PRAYER. 

out in this way or that way ; we must look above the valley 
with its gloom, away from its windings, from the fissures in 
its rocks, from places which seem likely to afford an outlet, 
above all, away from all, to God. 

We have no natural faculties for piercing the future of 
our troubles ; experience shews us at times that all our 
speculations, all our calculations, are not to be depended on, 
and that which we thought likely to prove our outlet from 
the valley, has, in point of fact, but more straitly shut up 
our path. So long as we endeavor to relieve ourselves, by 
efforts of human reason, or vision, so long must we remain 
perplexed and anxious : the lifting of the eye is, in point 
of fact, our only true resource. 

And how are we to lift up the eye, if it be not in 
prayer ? — Prayer, in which God is distinctly seen, in which 
His willingness to help is abundantly realised, and acknowl- 
edged ; one moment's upturning of the eye in this way is 
of more practical value than the most earnest gaze into the 
future. Let us look up from the valley to God, and He 
will look down into the valley on us, and lead us through 
all its windings, all its gloom, to the point which He can 
see from His lofty throne, as the only one through which 
we can make our escape. 

Elevation, then, above surrounding circumstances is 
imperatively called for, from the child of God, when 
journeying in the valley; at such a season he is to " lift 
up his eyes." 

And this leads us to consider the Power of Spiritual 
Sight in prayer. Spiritual sight is a reality, just as 
much as the sight of the eye ; and in proportion to the 
keenness of that sight will very often depend a man's 
power in prayer. 



PRAYER. 237 

This sight varies in the people of God, just as natural 
sight varies in power and clearness amongst men. There 
are some who can see only the dim outlines of things ; some 
who can plainly discern the form, but not the color of the 
object in view ; and others who, though they can see both 
form and color, cannot perceive the details, upon the com- 
prehension of which depends admiration of the object's 
beauty, or appreciation of its worth. Even thus it is with 
the children of God; some are dim-sighted, and an indis- 
tinct outline of God upon His throne, and of His faithful- 
ness, and love, and power, is all they see ; others can clearly 
perceive all these, but they see them as it were merely in 
the abstract, colorless, without the warmth and glow im- 
parted to them by personal realization; and there are others 
yet again, who must have their eyes further opened of 
the Spirit, ere they can realize in God those details of 
excellence in which His glory and beauty are most plainly 
seen. 

Let none, however, who read these lines be discouraged, 
because they feel that in their case all that they have 
attained to is a perception of the outline of God. All, per- 
haps, that such can do is to look up unto the hills, to try 
and see, rather than really to see God in their troublous 
time. It is no doubt hard work to pray under such circum- 
stances as these — to believe that the One we cannot plainly 
discern can and will help us out of the valley in which we 
go heavily, and in which we are almost afraid that we shall 
die ; But God is on high, however small may be our power 
of realizing Him, and if we lift up our eyes and He sees 
that we would fain look imploringly and trustingly upon 
Him, He will surely look down upon us ; He will not visit 
us for our blindness, but will honor our humble effort to 



238 PRAYER. 

lean upon Him ; and the bare fact of our having looked unto 
Him, however little we were able really to see Him, will 
bring us all needful help. What encouragement is here for 
many who are weak both in faith and prayer ! How should 
such a thought as this lead them just to turn their eyes up- 
ward in all their times of difficulty and distress ! Satan 
well knows how bountiful God is, and how He honors even 
the humblest effort at trusting Him ; yea, he knows that 
just this upward look in prayer, feeble though it be, will 
surely extricate the believer at the last, and therefore he 
would daunt the weak ones of the Lord, by saying to them, 
" You cannot do well enough in prayer to secure an 
answer." But do not permit yourself to be deceived; it is 
not the measure of your power in prayer that is in question, 
it is the measure of God's faithfulness and love ; even look- 
ing upward from the valley's depth will be counted by Him 
as prayer. 

Happy, however, is he who can see more than the dim 
outline of the One to whom he would address himself in 
his hour of need ; who does not merely stand as Moses in 
the cleft of the rock, to see as it were the back parts, while 
the face of God is not seen, (Exod. xxxiii, 22,) but who 
knows what it is to have " the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," (2 Cor. iv, 6 ;) 
whose outline of God is filled in with the details of His 
excellence, with attributes, in which he, as a praying man, 
has especial interest. When such an one lifts -up his eyes 
unto the hills, when he looks upon God, he sees enough in 
Him for all his wants, no matter how long the journey may 
prove through the valley, no matter how terrible its horrors, 
and no matter how accumulated his need. Such an one 
knows the tenderness of God, and sees that He will not 



PRAYER. 239 

allow the trusting soul to faint for want of a needful supply ; 
he dwells upon the faithfulness of God. and sees that He 
will not, that He cannot desert him in his trial hour : he 
sees Him in all His excellencies, all His glorious attributes ; 
he looks closely upon Him ; (and he can do so, for these 
attributes shine upon him with a mellowed light, as existing 
in, and beaming from his Father in Christ,) and then he is 
assured of help, he speaks of it as sure, "I will lift up 
mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." 

Let us seek, ever more and more, for an increase of clear- 
ness and power in spiritual vision ; that we may see the 
One who is exalted above the hills, caring for us in our 
travel through the valleys ; that we may perceive Him to 
be a God nigh at hand, and not a God afar off; no peril. 
weariness, want, temptation, device of the Devil, or posi- 
tive assault of his, can do us any hurt while ice are in 
the valley, if only {however feebly) ice lift up our eyes 
unto the hills, from whence cometh our help. 

And here, I would impress upon the reader the impor- 
tance of the words, " I will." This power of spiritual 
sight has to be exercised by distinct action. Just as the 
man possessed of natural sight has to use the muscles of the 
eye to bring it to bear upon the object he would see, so the 
man possessed of spiritual vision must use that spiritual 
faculty if he would see God. Blessing is given to distinct 
action. Distinct action shews practically the wish of the 
mind : and that the mind is willing to make exertion to 
attain to what it desires, and this action God will always 
honor. " Seek and ye shall find,"' is as true in this as in 
other particulars of the spiritual life. Have not you, dear 
reader, come very short in this exercise of distinct action 



240 PRAYER. 

when you were in the valley ? You have walked long and 
wearily with the eye downcast, and it may be watering the 
ground with your tears ; the lid drooped, and it was Satan's 
purpose that it should ; have not you felt yourself scarce 
equal to the exertion of raising the lid and turning the eye 
on God ? It answers Satan's purpose well enough that 
you should be occupied in looking round, and taking care 
of yourself, provided that by so doing, you are too much 
occupied to look up ; he does not mind how busy you are 
with yourself, provided you be not busy with God ; be 
encouraged then to bethink yourselves of, and to exercise 
distinct action in spiritual sight ; the very act of so doing 
will make you feel the reality of your connection ^ ith Him, 
will enlarge your expectation from Him ; you cannot 
reasonably expect to see, unless you lift up your eyes and 
look. 

And when you thus lift up your eyes, let there be a 
definite point on which your sight is fixed. Look straight 
to the throne — do not lose time in asking where shall I find 
help, icho will sympathize with and succor me ? Let us 
look to God at once ; we have a definite trouble, a definite 
enemy, let us have a definite resource also in our time of 
need. 

A word or two of caution will conclude this chapter. 

Let us not try to manage our little troubles by ourselves, 
lest greater ones spring out of them. Little troubles are 
like little seeds, they are small enough in themselves, but 
they are capable of producing great and important results. 
The oak is the produce of the acorn, the tangled briar 
comes from a seed on which no thorn is to be seen ; the 
Christian who will manage his little troubles by himself, 



PRATER. 241 

will soon find that he must manage much greater ones than 
he bargained for at first. 

Let us not allow ourselves to be kept from prayer by the 
great disproportion between God's resources and our little 
needs. Satan is able to argue at times apparently on God's 
behalf; he is all for God's honor, if by magnifying His 
honor, he can keep the poor sinner away from Him ; it is 
for this purpose, and for this alone, that God's honor is 
ever magnified by Satan. Let us, however, see through 
this cheat ; let us be thankful, instead of being daunted at 
the vastness of God's resources, at the great disproportion 
between them and our wants. By this disproportion, we 
are all the more secured, and we may rest assured, that 
however small our troubles or our need, a Father's love 
will always make God consider them as great. 

In all troubles, then, be persuaded, dear reader, to put 
forth this " I Will" of prayer. If you can do no more 
than barely upturn the eye, then say, "I will" do that. 
Do not undertake the management of even the smallest 
trouble by yourself: do not shrink from bringing any 
trouble, no matter how small, to God ; around, all may be 
darkness, perplexity, and doubt ; if you would dispel all 
these, say with the Psalmist of old, " I will lift up mine 
eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." 



11 




VI. 

m* "i mil" *i mmnmmt itt $x»w* 

Psalm lv, 11. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry 
aloud : and He shall hear my voice." 

UST as a scholar may excel in some one branch of 
learning, or an artizan in some particular depart- 
ment of his trade, so a Christian may pre-eminently 
excel in some one spiritual grace or power. 
And further, as the scholar or artizan may do some one 
portion of that, their special work, better than another, so 
the Christian may peculiarly excel, not only in some one 
grace, but in some particular working of that grace. 

Some Christian men are great in one thing, and some in 
another. Several may be great in the self-same thing, but 
in different departments of it. Thus is it with prayer. 
One man may excel in the lightning speed and power of 
his prayer in sudden emergencies ; another may excel in 
making prayer with the deep and abiding assurance of an 
answer, and with patient determination to wait for it ; while 
a third has peculiar power of realizing God in prayer ; and 
a fourth is especially able to gather in his thoughts and 
concentrate his mind, when he is thus engaged in prayer. 

It may be that a Christian is great in all these depart- 
ments of prayer, and yet that he comes short in Continu- 
ance in Prayer ; which is the subject I am about to 
consider now. " Continue in prayer, and watch in the 



PRAYER. 243 

same with thanksgiving," says St. Paul in his Epistle to the 

Colossians. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I 

pray, and cry aloud : and He shall hear my voice," says 

the Psalmist. 

The subject, then, which we are now to consider is 

Continuance in prayer. 

I. Continuance in Prayer as " a Habit." 
II. Continuance in it u at any one time." 
Ma^ grace be given to you, dear reader, to say " I 

will.'' " Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I 

pray, and cry aloud." 

Let us enquire, first of all, what this continuance in 
prayer is, looked at as a Habit. 

It is the habit of speaking to God at all times and in 
all places ; when there are immediate occasions for 
prayer, and also when there are not* 

Yes ! speaking to God at all times — not merely saying a 
prayer, or even praying in the morning when we get up, 
and in the evening when we go to bed ; but at many an- 
other time of the day ; or if we lie wakeful upon our beds, 
at many a time in the night. Those who thus continue in 
prayer, often put up more than a hundred distinct petitions 
in the day — it may be that they have only a few minutes 
leisure between one occupation and another, still in these few 
minutes how much may be said ; or perhaps their occupa- 
tion is a solitary one, and then, if they so will, they can 
talk to God nearly all day long. Prayer may be made in 
one short sentence, yes, in one short word, yes, without 
even a word at all. There is prayer in the upturning of 

* St. Augustine's wish was, that Christ when He came might find him 
"aut precantem, aut praedicantem " — either praying or preaching. 



244 PRAYER. 

an eye ; there is prayer in the heaving of a breast ; and it 
is often to no more than these that answers have been sent, 
the results of which affect the soul, even for eternity itself. 
This continuance in prayer is independent of place, as 
well as time. Some people are very dependent upon 
place, and becoming slavishly so, they are, from this very 
cause, hindered in continuance in prayer. The old min- 
ister's servant maid will teach us how to be independent of 
time and place in prayer. A number of ministers were 
assembled for the discussion of difficult questions, and 
among others it was asked how the commancl to "pray 
without ceasing " could be complied with. Various sup- 
positions were started, and at length one of the number 
was appointed to write an essay upon it, to be read at the 
next monthly meeting; which being heard by a plain, 
sensible servant girl, she exclaimed. "What! a whole 
month wanted to tell the meaning of that text ? It is one 
of the easiest in the Bible.' 7 "Well, well," said an old 
minister, "Mary, what can you say about it? let us know 
how you understand it. Can you pray all the time ?" 
"Oh, yes, sir." "What, when you have so many things 
to do?" "Why, sir, the more I have to do, the more I 
can pray." "Indeed! Well, Mary, do let us know how 
it is, for most people think otherwise." " Well, sir," said 
the girl, "when I first open my eyes in the morning I 
pray, c Lord, open the eyes of my understanding;' and 
while I am dressing, I pray that I may be clothed with the 
robe of righteousness ; and when I have washed me, I ask 
for the washing of regeneration ; and as I begin to work, I 
pray that I may have strength equal to my day. When I 
begin to kindle up the fire, I pray that God's work may 
revive in my soul ; and as I sweep out the house, I pray 



PRAYER. 245 

that my heart may be cleansed from all impurities ; and 
while preparing and partaking of breakfast, I desire to be 
fed with the hidden manna and the sincere milk of the 
word ; and as I am busy with the little children, I look up 
to God as my Father, and pray for the spirit of adoption, 
that I may be His child ; and so on all day. Everything I 
do furnishes me with a thought for prayer." " Enough, 
enough," cried the old divine ; " these things are revealed to 
babes, and often hid from the wise and prudent. Go on, 
Mary," said he; li pray without ceasing. And as for us, 
my brethren, let us bless the Lord for this exposition, and 
remember that He has said, l The meek will He guide in 
judgment.' " The essay, as a matter of course, was not 
considered necessary after the occurrence of this little event. 

Now, to pass over the ideas which are held by some, as 
to the extraordinary value of prayer made in certain edi- 
fices, set apart for that purpose, let us come to the more 
domestic life of the Christian, and see how he is affected in 
this matter. 

Some (and they are often true children of God) cannot 
pray except it be at the bed-side, where they are accus- 
tomed morning and evening to kneel, or in some special 
place in the house, which they have set apart for that 
purpose. 

I say nothing against their having a special place — there 
are advantages in having such a special place, when prac- 
ticable ; but he who exercises himself in continuance in 
prayer, must be wholly independent of place. He will 
often have to pray in very strange places indeed. Not long 
since, I met with a young Christian lady, who was com- 
pelled, against her will, to be present at the opera, a place 
wholly unfit for a child of God, and I suppose in the 



246 PRAYER. 

opinion of most, a very unsuitable one for prayer — but the 
testimony of that person was, that she never felt herself 
nearer to God in her life. She was there against her will, 
and God knew it ; and He gave her power wholly to ab- 
stract herself from the sights and sounds around, and speak 
with Him. 

A Sunday school teacher, knowing that all the boys in 
his class were constantly occupied during the week, feared 
much that prayer was sometimes neglected. He insisted 
one Sabbath, on the importance of prayer. At the close, 
he asked a little boy of ten years of age, who led a very 
uncomfortable life in the service of a master sweep, " And 
do you ever pray ?" u Oh, yes ! Monsieur." " And when 
do you do it ? You go out early in the morning, do you 
not ?" " Yes, Monsieur ; and we are only half awake when 
we leave the house. I think about God, but I cannot say 
that I pray then." " When then ?" " You see, Monsieur, 
our master orders us to mount the chimney quickly, but 
does not forbid us to rest a little when we are at the top. 
Then I sit upon the top of the chimney and pray." " And 
what do you say ?" " Ah ! Monsieur, very little ! I know 
no grand words with which to speak to God. Most fre- 
quently I only repeat a verse that I have learned at school. 
" What is that ?" The scholar repeated with fervor, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner." 

Here are some instances ; and if a man, whose habit is u to 
continue in prayer," w T ere to note down for a single week, all 
the places in which he had prayed during that week, some 
persons would be very much surprised indeed. The rail- 
way carriage, the road, the shop, the garden, would be 
found to have been places of prayer — and one, just as ac- 
ceptable as another, before God. 



PRAY.ER, 247 

It is a mistake to suppose that it is hard to pray in any 
of these places. It is the spirit of a man that prays, and 
the spirit may be quietly before the throne, while the body 
is whirling along amid the noise and dust of travel. 
There is many a railway carriage in this kingdom, the 
corner of which has served as a place of prayer for the 
child of God — the man that was sitting there was not 
asleep — behold he prayed ! And many a prayer has gone 
up from the believer, as he walked along the road. When 
we are walking alone on the road, or in the fields, is an 
excellent time for prayer. It is not by any means impos- 
sible to pray short prayers, while threading one's way amid 
the people and carriages which throng the streets of a large 
town ; how much less so to pray, as we walk along in quiet. 
And thus it will be seen, how entirely vain must be the 
excuse of those, who say that "they have no time, or no 
opportunity to pray."' If they say, " : We have no inclina- 
tion," will it not be nearer the truth? God will accept 
real prayer, no matter from what locality it is sent up, 
no matter at what time. He will listen to the prayer of 
the poor woman as she bends over her wash-tub or iron- 
ing-board, or plies her needle ; and it will be as acceptable 
to Him, as though it ascended from the fretted aisles of the 
gorgeous temple, as though it were embodied in the chant- 
ings of the minister, and in the responses of a surpliced 
choir. Pick out the meanest of man's occupations, (provided 
it be not a sinful one,) — let it be the sweeping of the 
streets — let it be the gathering, from house to house, of the 
offal of life's daily supplies; while engaged in such an 
occupation, prayer, brighter than earth's brightest jewels, 
prayer, sweeter than earth's daintiest perfume, may be made 
by the poorest of the sons of men — aye, and while men pass 



248 PRAYER. 

with pity or contempt the man that they think degraded hy 
this miserable occupation, they may, unknown to them- 
selves, have passed a man who, while handling earth's most 
contemptible things, was moving heaven itself, and holding 
immediate communion with his God. 

Let not this, dear reader, be pointed out to you without 
some practical result. Something will be gained if you get 
the well-defined idea, that prayer may be made in every 
time, in every place; that you may thus pray; that there 
need be no formality of posture when you thus, apart from 
the stated time of prayer, come before your God. The soul 
may come into a posture of prayer when the body cannot ; 
when we walk, or ride, or sit, our soul may be in rever- 
ence before the throne; he who is able to continue in 
prayer, knows this ; he prays at all times, and in all places. 

We must observe, further, on this point, that prayer is 
thus made, not only with some special occasion, but also 
without it. 

We have indeed occasions enough continually pressing 
upon us, and making us, if we be men of God, to engage in 
prayer. He who knows, and experimentally realizes, that 
all things must be brought to God in prayer, and that all 
things may be brought to God in prayer, will surely never 
be at a loss for matter for his prayers ; he will never say, M I 
have nothing particular to pray about, nothing particular to 
say." Scarce a day passes over our heads, without afford- 
ing special matter for prayer. Dangers are apprehended ; 
some of the wheels of life's daily machinery get out of repair, 
or need to be oiled with an unction which we cannot give, so 
that they may run smooth ; children or friends are ill ; vex- 
ations have to be borne ; all these, as they arise, either in 
fact, or in our thoughts, are matter enough for prayer. But 



PRAYER. 249 

let us suppose that everything in life is going on smoothly ; 
God's people have plenty to pray about, nevertheless. 
They have some temptation to overcome ; they ha^e some 
spiritual comfort and blessing to be obtained, of which they 
are feeling sore and pressing need ; these things are upper- 
most in their thoughts, and as out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh, so out of the abundance of the 
heart does the mouth speak in prayer. 

Men who are unacquainted with divine things may say, 
11 We never feel these pressing occasions, indeed, very often 
when we kneel down, we don't know what to pray for next, 
and, therefore, as we wish to do right, we have bought a 
book !" Ah, dear reader, was the book ever written that 
contained all that a Spirit-taught man would say to God? 
A book is at best a crutch — no doubt it is better to walk 
with a crutch, than not to walk at all — but surely we ought 
to have thoughts enough in our hearts to supply words 
enough for our lips. 

But let us now set the " pressing occasions" entirely 
aside, and see how God's people find abundance about which 
to continue in prayer, even without them. Just as a man is 
full of thoughts and interests in his natural life, so also is 
he in his spiritual existence ; supposing, of course, that he 
is a real child of God. These give him matter for con- 
tinuous prayer — some or other of them are continually 
coming uppermost in his mind, and he speaks about them 
to the Lord. 

Take, first of all, the thoughts of a child of God. He 
longs to be holy ; he is deeply conscious of how unholy he 
is ; then the thought gives birth to prayer ; he may be 
walking, or travelling, or, perhaps, sitting by his fire-side ; 
but his heart goes up to God, he begins to pray. I do not 

11* 



250 PRAYER. 

say that he makes a long prayer ; but with all his heart he 
says to God, " Lord, may the Spirit sanctify me, and 
make me more like Christ" — the prayer is never breathed 
in words which fall on human ear, but passes straight 
upward from his heart of hearts to the throne of the Majesty 
on high. 

Or perhaps his thought is upon loving Jesus (and 
thoughts upon this subject continually enter and abide in 
the believer's mind), and this thought soon turns to prayer. 
Christ's people all deeply feel that they do not love Him 
more ; they are often angry with themselves about this ; 
they often are anxious about it ; and soon the thought 
changes into prayer. They say, " Lord, how cold, how 
stony is this poor heart of mine ; I cannot love Thee by 
myself: oh make me love as Thou Thyself wouldst have 
me love," — perhaps they repeat the same few words over 
and over again ; yes, twenty times or more — " Lord, make 
me love." And thus, even so far as thoughts are con- 
cerned, the Christian is never at a loss for subject-matter 
for his prayers. 

Now turn for a moment from his thoughts to his interests. 

We all know what it is to have certain subjects of 
interest to our minds. We take an interest in, it may be, 
political, town, or social matters, or in persons or pursuits ; 
all of which are, strictly speaking, outside ourselves. Thus 
does the child of God— as such ; he has an interest in God's 
cause, perhaps as regards the place in which he is, perhaps 
in the case of certain individuals ; or that interest may 
take a wider range than either of these. These interests 
will find their way into the supplications of the man that 
knows what it is to continue in prayer. He will make 
such petitions as these — " Lord, awaken such an one to a 



PRAYER. 251 

sense of the ruin which lies before him ;" " Lord, deepen 
the impressions which have been made in the mind of such 
an one ;" " Lord, open Thine hand, and provide the means 
for carrying on Thy work ;" " Lord, prosper Thine own 
cause in the place in which we live." The man who con- 
tinues in prayer will say, as he walks to the house where 
the sick person lives, to whom he would minister in the 
name of Christ, " Lord, give me access here, make my visit 
acceptable and useful ;" and in all probability he will add 
another little petition as he goes away. If he hear the 
funeral bell and knows that at that moment a neighbor is 
about to be carried to the grave, he will say, " Lord, com- 
fort the bereaved and mourning ones ; Lord, bless the 
solemn season to their souls" — and so on, all days, all 
weeks, all months, all years, until his own tongue be silent 
in death ; and he has passed from the place of prayer to 
that of praise. 

May it be given to us to know more and more of this 
continuance in prayer, for it is not anything high-flown or 
chimerical in the Christian life, it is solid matter of fact. 
Some thus pray ; so also, by the influence of the Spirit, 
may many more of us. The Lord pour out that Spirit, 
and enable us to say with the Psalmist, " Evening, and 
morning, and at noon, will I pray and cry aloud : and He 
shall hear my voice !" 




VII. 
m* "% Witt" of tatimtatw i« Em**- 

(continued.) 

Psalm lv, IT. "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and 
cry aloud: and Re shall hear my voice" 

, E see from what has been said, what it is to con- 
% tinue in prayer ; and that this continuance is a 
solid practical reality, attainable by ordinary 
Christians, and, in point of fact, well known to 
many in the experiences of their daily spiritual life. 

We now turn to the consideration of what IS neces- 
sary, FOR ENABLING A MAN TO ATTAIN TO THIS CON- 
TINUANCE. 

One very important point is, Realization of privilege — 
that a man should feel that he is privileged to take up a 
higher standing than that of a mere worshipper, that he 
may hold communion with God. 

It will of course be understood that, no matter how 
closely a man be drawn to God in sonship, worship is what 
is due from him as a creature, to God as his Creator. The 
deepest reverence and awe will ever fill the mind which 
knows the Holy One aright. Before Him even the angels 
veil their faces, and the heavens are not pure in His sight ; 
this he, who coutinues in prayer will always keep in mind, 



PRAYER. 253 

and he will never presume to be irreverent because he has 
been privileged to hold communion. 

There is, unquestionably, a position higher than that of 
a worshipper. Unconverted men may worship, but higher 
than that they cannot go. Mere natural religion and edu- 
cation may make a man a worshipper : the first may send 
a thrill through the mind, as the vastness of creation is 
thought upon, and the power of the Creator is linked with 
it ; the other may ingraft the idea that God ought to be 
worshipped and honored, as the Supreme Being in the uni- 
verse ; but here worship ends, and it can never expand into 
communion. Worship is a duty, communion is a privilege. 

He who is enjoying the privilege of communion with 
God, is in a far higher position than the worshipper ; and 
the realization of this will be a great help to the habit of 
continuance in prayer. A little consideration will easily 
shew us how this may be. 

If we feel that we have the privilege of sons, we shall 
act towards our Father as children do towards a parent. 
A child, from the simple realization of his connection with 
his parent, comes to him at all times, and asks him about 
everything. His reverence for his parent is not diminished 
by the fact that he may thus come to him : that the father 
does not require set forms and ceremonies to be gone 
through, before the child can open his lips. Were this the 
case, the child would, in all probability, stay away when 
he had only apparently little things to speak about, or ask 
for ; and would draw near only when the greatness of the 
matter in hand would appear to warrant his approach. It 
will not be difficult to trace what serious consequences may 
result from such a state as this : great evils often come 
from very small beginnings, and the little things about 



254 PRAYER. 

which we might have spoken, had we felt our privilege of 
doing so, are perhaps some of the very beginnings from 
which evils are destined to proceed. The buds of evil are 
nipped, in the privileged communications which pass be- 
tween the believer and his God ; when the first pains of a 
child are brought before the notice of the tender parent, he 
takes measures which avert a grievous illness and much 
after suffering. 

Moreover, if we do not feel that we have the privilege of 
talking to God, we shall perhaps think we ought not to 
commend such things to Him at all, for* we may think that 
they are not important enough to be made the subjects of 
set and solemn prayer. This is a mistake, but our business 
now is with the results of the error ; the result is simply 
this, we take the small matter into our own hands, and do 
it wrongly, or do it without a blessing, and thus trouble or 
loss are sure to attach themselves to it. A few words of 
prayer— even a look to God upon the subject, might have 
set the whole matter right; these were not given, not 
because of any unbelief, but because of a want of realiza- 
tion of privilege, and the consequences we see. 

Let us remember that a man may fail in this point, even 
though he may not be unacquainted, and that practically, 
with many of the other privileges of sonship. For example, 
he may clearly see that God, as a gracious Father, is edu- 
cating him when He sends him trials ; and that as a Father 
He will, in a general way, make all needful provision for 
him, and will love him, and eventually secure his eternal 
happiness; but he fails in this particular point of realization 
of privilege. 

Let us endeavor ever more and more to realize the priv- 
ileges connected with sonship with God ; so to realize them 



PRAYER. 255 

as to use them ; let us remember that we have been called 
to a position far higher than that of a mere worshipper — 
and not only far higher, but far closer also — and that that 
position confers upon us the privilege of talking to God 
about everything, and doing so at every time and in every 
place. 

Some instances of God's answers to prayer will be given 
in a future chapter ; it may be well, however, to impress 
this subject upon the reader's mind by some examples ; 
perhaps when these are thought on, they may encourage 
him to seek God in what may be called the common things 
of daily life. 

Two Christian parents had a little child, whose restless- 
ness at night, accompanied with continual and violent cry- 
ing, had almost worn out a valuable nurse. At last, in 
order to give the nurse some rest, the parents determined 
on taking the little one for a nis;ht themselves. At first all 
was quiet ; but in a very little while the crying commenced, 
and was carried on until one of the two parents, who was 
ill, was almost worn out. All efforts to hush the little one 
were in vain ; and at last the parents bethought themselves 
of doing what they should have done at first. They jointly 
asked God to still the child's crying for the night ; and in 
answer to that prayer the child then ceased, and went to 
sleep, and had restless nights no more. Those are true 
words in the collect, — "Who art always more ready to hear 
than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we 
desire or deserve." What could seem more insignificant, as a 
subject of prayer, than the crying of a child ? but God is 
honored by the faith that casts little things upon Him, 
recognizing at once the comprehensiveness of His mind, and 
of His love. 



256 PRAYER. 

Two Christian persons were about to perform a long and 
trying journey ; one of them was in such a state of health 
as to make it likely that the journey would be a very con- 
siderable trial to flesh and blood. The mind of one of 
these travellers was led to commend this matter to the 
Lord, and ask Him for such especial travelling mercies and 
strength for his friend, that the journey might not prove 
wearisome, or too much for the frame which had to sustain 
it. The hours of night rolled on, and as the morning 
broke, the one for whom the prayer had been offered, and 
who had shewn no sign of fatigue, turned to the other and 
remarked that, strange to say, no fatigue was being expe- 
rienced, and that the time seemed flying by rapidly. Then 
the reason was told, and the secret of the prayer let out ; 
and when the journey was finally accomplished, and rest 
could easily be had, the traveller did not need it or take it, 
but was able to go about, as if the previous night had been 
spent in bed and not in a railway train. 

A Christian man, a relative of the author, was in great 
difficulty with reference to a paper of consequence, which 
was required immediately, but could not be found. Search 
was made in all parts of the counting house ; old drawers 
and pigeon holes, seldom disturbed, were ransacked, but to 
no purpose; the document could not be found. When 
reduced almost to despair, he bethought him of the power 
of prayer, and asked the Lord to guide him to the place 
where the paper was. It now came into his mind to go 
to a certain spot, and there he found the object of his 
search. 

Somewhat similar to this, is the instance of a worthy 
man who lost a purse containing a considerable sum of 
money, as he was returning home. As the moriey was not 



PRAYER. 257 

his own, he was greatly distressed, for it was not probable 
that his statement of having lost it would be believed. On 
reaching a roadside inn he got a lantern and carefully re- 
traced his steps, examining the road as closely as he could, 
but with no success. At length, well-nigh in despair, he 
went to the roadside, and earnestly besought God to help 
him in his difficulty, and enable him to find the purse. At 
that moment he struck his foot against something hard, and 
on putting down his hand to ascertain what it was, he dis- 
covered to his great joy, the purse which he had lost. God 
had guided him to the very place in which He intended to 
answer his prayers. 

The author remembers a case where it was very necessary 
that an invalid should take a certain medicine. Three 
portions had been sent by the surgeon, and the first two 
were immediately rejected. There remained now but one, 
and there was every probability that it would share the fate 
of the previous two. It was a matter of consequence that 
it should not, and a prayer was offered by a bystander 
to that effect, and the medicine was taken without any 
difficulty. 

It was necessary that a minister should undertake a 
journey, for which, however, he had not a sufficiency of 
funds. Special prayer was made to the Lord to supply the 
means, and on retiring to rest at a friend's house, which 
was on the way, the person in question saw an envelope on 
his looking glass, which on being opened was found to con- 
tain a ten pound note, and a line saying it was for " travel- 
ling expenses." The minister's hostess said "she could 
not go to rest until she put it there : she felt constrained 
to do it." 

Everything which is not sinful we may bring to God ; 



258 PRAYER. 

the minuteness of His love will always make Him conde- 
scend to the minuteness of our need. 

That, however, which above all things will enable us to 
continue in prayer, is the Holy Ghostfs operation upon 
the habit of our minds. 

There are diverse operations of the Spirit, He works upon 
the mind's reasoning, and imaginative, and receptive powers ; 
He works upon its habit also. We know, it is to be hoped, 
from experience, what some of His operations are in these 
former particulars. Our reasoning powers have been rec- 
tified, and adjusted, and strengthened, in all things con- 
nected with the spiritual world ; our imagination has been 
cleansed, and sweetened, and our powers of receiving truth 
have been deepened and enlarged ; but has the habit of our 
mind been wrought upon by the Holy Ghost ? 

If the mind's bent has been turned heavenward, the very 
fact of its being fixed on God will, in itself, be a great 
stimulant to continuous prayer. The mind thus sanctified 
will, as it were, naturally fall into holy thought, and begin 
to speak with God. 

Seek, dear reader, for a sanctified habit of mind, for it 
will enable you continually to pray, and will bring down 
upon you continual blessing. Prayer will thus be not an 
effort, but an overflowing of the mind. No doubt there 
will be times when prayer will require intense effort ; times 
of special temptation, special sorrow, or special conflict- — 
then, the occasion being extraordinary, the prayer must be 
so also ; but in all ordinary communings with God, the 
sanctification of the habit of the mind will give us both 
continuance and power. 



PRAYER. 259 

Let us now enquire into the results of this continuance 
in prayer as a habit. 

One result has reference to what we have this moment 
been speaking about. Continuance in prayer will help to 
keep up the spirituality of our tone of mind. Do we not 
find ourselves day by day prone to slip down from any 
spirituality to which we may have attained ? Are we not 
very like some stringed instrument, the continual tendency 
of which is to decline from concert pitch ? Unless the body 
be continually refreshed by breathing in pure air, it will 
droop ; the soul is as dependent upon refreshment as the 
body, and the soul's refreshment is in prayer. 

Another most important result is this, we cannot become 
strangers to the throne of grace : nothing pleases Satan 
more, than to interrupt our appearances before the throne 
of grace. He will disturb our regular times and oppor- 
tunities of prayer, if he can ; and failing that, he will make 
us strangers to ejaculatory and continuous prayer. 

How often do we find in daily life that we insensibly 
become almost strangers to those whom once we knew well, 
but frequent intercourse with whom had become gradually 
broken ! And have we not also found that, as time rolled 
on, we missed the accustomed intercourse less and less, 
until at length we found that we could do very well with- 
out those in whose society we once found pleasure ? Such 
a thought would at one time have been repudiated, and 
deemed treasonable against all friendship and fine feeling ; 
but experience shows us that the thought is true. 

To make the child of God a stranger to the throne of 
grace, is a continual effort of Satan ; he knows that the 
heart will gradually become less and less willing to talk 
with God, the confidence of the heart will decrease, this 



260 PRAYER. 

openness and communicativeness will diminish ; and as 
it becomes more and more reserved, it will turn in more 
upon itself; it will become suspicious and timid, and have 
the feeling that it has something to rfo, something to over- 
come, before it can speak with God, as it used easily to do 
in former times. Let us be assured that the feeling of 
strangeness is one which grows rapidly, and that in an in- 
creasing ratio. 

Another good result of continuance of prayer is this ; 
we can bring multitudes of things before God as they arise, 
which otherwise we might have forgotten. Little things 
are soon forgotten, and yet, as we have already observed, 
they are often of great importance ; being, in fact, but the 
pivots on which greater things turn. So easily are little 
things forgotten, that many of them are gone, even before 
the time for our usual evening prayer. They are gone 
from our memories, without ever having been committed to 
God — but though gone from our memories, they have not 
gone from the field of action ; they have amalgamated with 
other things, or linked themselves with them, for the pro- 
duction of some result. 

There is just one point more which I would notice and 
that is, as a result of continuous prayer, we shall have a 
blessing in special acts. When we are about to do a thing, 
if we ask a blessing upon it, and if that thing be not evil 
we shall receive the blessing. We should seek for special 
as well as general blessings. We often lose the special in 
the general, and consequently do not receive because we do 
not asfe. Let us have the spirit of continuous prayer, and 
say, "Lord, help me in this. Lord, avert that" and the 
special blessing will surely come. 

Thus, dear reader, ever living in supplication, we shall also 



PRAYER. 261 

ever live in giving of thanks ; and no matter how varied be 
our need, we shall ever have a resource ; no matter how 
many our enemies, we shall have a very present help — ours 
surely, amid all the changes and chances of this mortal life, 
will be that peace which the world never gave, and which 
the world can never take away. 




VIII. 
m* "1 Witt" of $xjwtati<m i» §*aj}M. 

Psalm lv, 16, 11. " As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall 
save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: 
and He shall hear my voice. 11 

} APPY is that man who has an expecting heart ; 
who goes upon his knees as a living reality, be- 
lieving that his words are full of meaning, that 
God hears them, and that God will certainly an- 
swer them ; such an one will be great in prayer, and will 
surely receive signal answers — real answers to real prayers. 
The subject of which this chapter proposes to treat, is 
one of great interest to the believer ; it is one to which in 
all probability the believing reader could add much out of 
his own experience. Who is there that prays at all, who 
cannot bring forward some practical proofs from the diary 
of his own life, that God is a prayer-hearing and a prayer- 
answering God? 

Faithful Expectation in Prayer is the subject 
which we are to consider now ; and here we shall have an 
opportunity of bringing forward some examples of God's 
faithfulness in answering prayers ; and very precious such 
examples are, for the mind loves to dwell on facts, and to 
argue from them ; and with very many, one fact has more 
weight than a thousand arguments. 



PRAYER. 263 

Our first enquiry is, what is it to expect in Prayer ? 

It is to believe that an answer will come, to be looking 
out for an answer, and to be patient in expecting it. 

Vast multitudes of prayers are offered without any posi- 
tive expectation being connected with them. They are 
offered up because men think that the proper thing to do 
under certain circumstances is to say a prayer ; or perhaps 
because men have been used to say prayers, but the living 
reality of expectation is not found in them. 

How differently do we act towards God and man. When 
we go to our fellow man for anything, we are in expecta- 
tion of receiving it, or we hope so to do ; we have some defi- 
nite idea connected with our words. But when we pray to 
God, and that, oftentimes, for fixed and definite things, we 
never think about the coming of the answer, we are not 
really on the look out for it, expecting it, just as we should 
be on the look out for the post with a letter to us contain- 
ing money, from a well tried and wealthy friend to whom 
we had applied in our distress. I can give the reader no 
better example of such expectation than one which is to be 
found inMiiller's narrative of the orphan houses at Bristol. 
The account is given in his own words. 

11 To suppose that we have difficulty only about money 
would be a mistake ; there occur hundreds of other wants 
and hundreds of other difficulties. It is a rare thing that a 
day comes without some difficulty or some want ; but often 
there are many difficulties and many wants to be met and 
overcome the same day. All these are met by prayer and 
faith, our universal remedy for every difficulty and every 
want ; and I have never been confounded. Patient, perse- 
vering, and believing prayer, offered up to God in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, has always, sooner or later, brought the 



264 PRAYER. 

blessing. I do not despair, by God's grace, concerning the 
obtaining of any blessing, provided I can be sure my obtain- 
ing it would be for my real good, and for the glory of God. 
I relate here for the benefit of the reader one instance, out 
of many, to show what are our difficulties under which we 
give ourselves to prayer, and under which we are helped. 

u It was towards the end of November, of 1857, when I 
was most unexpectedly informed that the boiler of our 
heating apparatus at the New Orphan House, No. 1, 
leaked very considerably, so that it was impossible to go 
through the winter with such a leak. Our heating appa- 
ratus consists of a large cylinder boiler, inside of which the 
fire is kept, and with which boiler the water-pipes which 
warm the rooms are connected. Hot air is also connected 
with this apparatus. This now was my position. The 
boiler had been considered suited for the work of the win- 
ter ; the having had ground to suspect its being worn out, 
and not to have done anything towards its being replaced 
by a new one, and to have said I will trust to God regard- 
ing it, would be careless presumption, but not faith in God. 
It would be the counterfeit of faith. 

"The boiler is entirely surrounded by brickwork, its 
state, therefore, could not be known without taking down 
the brickwork ; this, if needless, would be rather injurious 
to the boiler than otherwise ; and as year after year, for 
eight winters, we had no difficulty in this way, we had not 
anticipated it now. But suddenly, and most unexpectedly, 
at the commencement of the winter, this difficulty occurred. 
What then was to be done ? For the children, especially 
the younger infants, I felt deeply concerned, that they 
might not suffer through want of warmth. But how were 
we obtain warmth? The introduction of a new boiler 



PRAYER. 265 

would, in all probability, take many weeks. The repair- 
ing of the boiler was a questionable matter, on account of 
the greatness of the leak ; but, if not, nothing could be said 
of it, till the brick chamber, in which the boiler with Haz- 
ard's patent heating apparatus is enclosed, was at least in 
part removed ; but that would, at least, as far as we could 
judge, take days, and what was to be done in the meantime 
to find warm rooms for three hundred children ? It natu- 
rally occurred to me to introduce temporary gas-stoves, but 
on further weighing the matter, it was found that we should 
be unable to heat our very large stoves, which we could not 
introduce, as we had not a sufficient quantity of gas to 
spare from our lighting apparatus. Moreover, for each of 
these stoves we needed a small chimney, to carry off the 
impure air. This mode of heating, therefore, though appli- 
cable to a hall, a staircase, or a shop, would not suit our 
purposes. I also thought of the temporary introduction 
of Arnott's stoves ; but they would be unsuitable, as we 
needed chimneys, long chimneys for them, as they would 
have been of a temporary kind, and therefore must go out 
of the windows. On this account, the uncertainty of its 
answering in our case, the disfigurement of the rooms 
almost permanently led me to see it needful to give up this 
plan also. But what was to be done ? Gladly would I 
have paid ,£100, if thereby the difficulty could have been 
overcome, and the children not be exposed to suffer for many 
days from being in cold rooms. At last I determined on 
falling entirely into the hands of God, who is very merci- 
ful and of tender compassion, and I decided on having at 
all events the brick chamber opened, to see the extent of the 
damage, and to see whether the boiler might be repaired, 
so as to carry us through the winter. The day was fixed 

12 



266 PRAYER. 

when the workmen were to come, and all the necessary 
arrangements were made. The fire, of coarse, had to be 
let out while the repairs were going on. But now see. 
After the day was fixed for the repairs, a bleak north wind 
set in. It began to blow either on Thursday or Friday 
before the Wednesday afternoon, when the fire was to be 
let out. Now came the first really cold weather which we 
had in the beginning of last winter, during the first days of 
December. What was to be done? The repairs could 
not be put off. I now asked the Lord for two things, viz., 
that He would be pleased to change the north wind into a 
south wind, and that He would give the workmen ' a mind 
to work,' for I remembered how much Nehemiah accom- 
plished in fifty-two days, whilst building the walls of Jeru- 
salem, because ' the people had a mind to work.' Well, 
the memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak 
north wind blew still, but on the Wednesday the south wind 
blew, exactly as I prayed. The weather was so mild that 
no fire was needed. The brickwork is removed, the leak is 
found out very soon, the boiler-makers began to repair in good 
earnest. About half-past eight in the evening, when I was 
going to leave the New Orphan House, for my home, I was 
informed at the lodge, that the acting principal of the firm 
whence the boiler-makers came was arrived, to see how the 
work was going on, and whether he could in any way speed 
the matter. I went immediately, therefore, into the cellar, 
to see him with the men, to seek to expedite the business. 
In speaking to the principal of this, he said, in their hearing, 
' The men will work late this evening, and come very early 
again to-morrow.' 'We would rather, sir,' said the leader, 
' work all night. 7 Then remembered I the second part of 
my prayer, that God would give the men i a mind to work.' 



PRAYER. 267 

Thus it was ; by the morning, the repair of the boiler was 
accomplished, the leak was stopped, though with great dif- 
ficulty, and within about thirty hours, the brickwork was 
up again, and the fire in the boiler ; and all the time the 
south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need 
of a fire." 

Here, then, is a plain instance of expectation in prayer, 
a definite blessing was sought, and a definite blessing was 
obtained. 

A tradesman was about to return to London from a 
watering-place, where he had been staying for a few weeks ; 
his presence was necessary at his place of business, where a 
number of hands were employed, and where everything was 
not going on very smoothly. This tradesman was to have 
started in the afternoon, and in the morning he went to 
take a last plunge in the sea. In plunging he struck his 
head against the bottom, and injured the vertebrae of the 
back ; for weeks afterwards he laid dead from his neck 
downward, but perfectly alive and sensible, so far as his 
head was concerned. 

The great earthly trouble pressing upon this man's mind, 
was the state of affairs in his office in London ; this he told 
the minister who attended him. The minister said, " Let 
us commit the matter to God:" so he knelt down and 
prayed that God would be graciously pleased to operate on 
the minds of all the workmen, to make them attentive and 
diligent, to make them feel that God's eye was upon them, 
and His hand over them, to keep them from bad conduct 
of every kind, and to make things run smoothly. It was 
also humbly submitted to God that this business was this poor 
man's means of livelihood for himself and a large family. 
Two or three days afterwards some of the chief hands in 



268 PRATER. 

the business came to see their sick master, and told him 
that " there was a wonderful change in the office, that 
something had come over them, and that they all felt that 
they -could not do enough for him !" 

Or take the case of the worthy people mentioned in the 
following occurrence ; what could be more definite than 
their petition, or what more definite than the answer they 
received ? 

" Considerable difficulty and annoyance having arisen in 
the affairs of a certain religious community, owing to the 
perverse and contentious spirit of one of its members, it 
became necessary that steps should be taken to prevent his 
doing mischief. This could only be accomplished by ob- 
taining the signature of a gentleman who lived at some 
distance. Two members of the church were deputed to 
obtain the needful signature, and before they started on 
their journey they knelt down and prayed that God would 
further them in the work they had in hand. On arriving 
at this gentleman's house and stating their business, he 
informed them that he never did anything of that kind 
without the advice of a friend, who lived at a considerable 
distance. In vain they urged him, he absolutely refused. 
At length they arose to take their departure, but on being 
pressed to remain to dinner, stayed. While at dinner a 
horseman rode up to the door — it was the very person 
whose advice was required, and who said that he had been 
several miles on his way in another direction, but had felt 
constrained to turn and come and see his friend. The case 
was immediately laid before him, his consent obtained, and 
the document signed, just in time to disappoint the con- 
tentious man, who arrived immediately after." 

Or take the case of the Cree Indian in Kupert's land. 



PRAYER. 269 

who told his story to one of our native catechists. The man 
and his family were in their wanderings exposed on one 
occasion to a fearful fire, which was running across the dry 
prairie with great violence and speed ; it was burning all 
around fearfully, and there appeared no way of escape. 
Suddenly he remembered what Pratt had told him, of the 
one great God over all : and while his family were crying, 
and clinging to him, he fell upon his knees and said u O 
Thou great One, who art above all, whoever Thou art, 
save me from this fire ;" and ere the fire touched him, or 
any one of them, there fell upon it such a heavy shower of 
rain as totally extinguished it. In consequence of this, 
that individual now denies the Indians' gods, and acknowl- 
edges none but One. 

One of the missionary periodicals furnishes us with the 
following simple story of a definite request and a definite 
answer, and though the request was small it was definite, 
and its apparent unimportance adds to its value, for if we 
may be definite in that which is least, how much more in 
that which is greatest. 

u A poor servant girl was very anxious to do something 
for the missionary cause. She gave what she could her- 
self, but that did not satisfy her. She was living in a rich 
family, who she knew could give plenty if they chose. So 
she got a missionary box, and placed it on the kitchen 
dresser, and then prayed to God to bring it about so that 
it should find its way upstairs. She asked advice of the 
living Lord of the mine. One day the pet of the house, little 
Amy, happened to come into the kitchen with a message, 
and she saw the box and begged to have it to play with. 
Poor Peggy had her thoughts ; but she did not say any- 
thing except ' yes, Miss Amy, to be sure you may, and 



270 PRAYER. 

keep it as long as you like.' Half an hour after the bell 
rang, and Peggy was called upstairs ; and there she found 
her master and mistress, and the young gentlemen, and the 
young ladies, crowding around the box, and she was asked 
what it was. She told them, with many blushes and curt- 
sies, that it was for ' the missionaries who taught the blacks,' 
and that she put her spare money into it. They all seemed 
pleased, and begged to be allowed to put their spare money 
into it too. So the little green box was promoted from the 
kitchen dresser to the white marble mantlepiece in the 
drawing room ; and it was not long before it was sent down 
to Peggy with a thick penny sticking out of its mouth — it 
was so brim full." 

There is a very interesting instance of this definiteness 
both in the petition and the answer given us in a work en- 
titled, " The Ladies of the Covenant." We are told that, 
" On the forenoon of the day on which he (the Marquis of 
Argyll) was to be executed, she (the Marchioness) and Mr. 
John Carstairs were employed in wrestling with God, in his 
behalf, in a chamber in the Canongate, earnestly pleading 
that the Lord would now seal his charter by saying to him, 
' Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee !' It is 
a striking circumstance that, at the very time of their being 
thus employed, the Marquis, while engaged in settling some 
worldly affairs, a number of persons of quality being pres- 
ent with him, was visited in his soul with such a sense of 
the divine favor, as almost overpowered him ; and, after in 
vain attempting to conceal his emotions by going to the fire 
and beginning to stir it with the tongs, he turned about, 
and melting into tears exclaimed, ' I see this will not do j 
I must now declare what the Lord has done for my soul ! 
He has just now, at this very instant of time, sealed my 



PRAYER. 271 

charter in these words, c Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are 
forgiven thee !' This comfortable state of mind he retained 
to the last, and to this scene he alluded in his dying speech 
on the scaffold. Can it be doubted that the bestowment of 
the very blessing, prayed for by this devout lady and that 
godly minister, to the dying martyr, at the very instant in 
which it was sought, was a signal answer to their believing 
prayers?'' 

A lady lay upon her bed suffering violent pain in the 
head, and while thus suffering, she said to a friend, who 
was watching by her side, " If I only could get ten minutes' 
sleep I should feel better." The friend said nothing, but 
offered up a silent prayer to God to grant the ten minutes' 
sleep. True ! the petition was feeble and the faith feeble, 
but the Lord, who is very tender, did not despise either the 
feebleness of the faith or the smallness of the subject of the 
request. The patient immediately slept, and described her 
sleep as most delicious, that she had "the sensation of hav- 
ing been fanned off to sleep." 

Simeon gives us an account of a definite answer which he 
received to a definite prayer, when he was in great trial. 

" Many years ago," says he, " when I was an object of 
much contempt and derision in this university, I strolled 
forth one day, buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testa- 
ment in my hand : I prayed earnestly to my God, that He 
would comfort me with some cordial from His word, and 
that on opening the book I might find some text which 
should sustain me. It was not for direction that I was 
looking, for I am no friend to such superstitions as 'the 
sortes virgiliance, but only for support. I thought I would 
turn to the epistles, where I should most easily find some 
precious promise ; but my book was upside down, so with- 



272 PRAYER. 

out intending it I opened on the gospels. The first text 
which caught my eye was this, 'They found a man of 
Cyrene, Simon by name ; him they compelled to bear His 
cross. 7 You know Simon is the same name as Simeon. 
What a word of instruction was here, what a blessed hint 
for my encouragement ! To have the cross laid upon me, 
that I might bear it after Jesus ! what a privilege ! It was 
enough. Now I could leap and sing for joy, as one whom 
Jesus was honoring with a participation in His sufferings." 
Relating this on another occasion, Mr. Simeon added : — 
u And when I read that, I said, ' Lord, lay it on me ; I 
will gladly bear the cross for Thy sake.' And I hence- 
forth bound persecution as a wreath of glory round my 
brow ! " 

A friend some time since furnished me with the follow- 
ing instance from his own knowledge. He gives two 
instances in his letter, one of which will here suffice. 

u The first occurred to a person now living with whom I 
was formerly intimately acquainted. He was from early 
life a sedulous reader of the Bible, and having married a 
person of similar religious feeling, their store of biblical 
information became considerable, and the husband, to whom 
I allude, subsequently became a writer on prophecy, and 
published a work called l .' In his career of mercan- 
tile life his whole property was involved in the speculations 
of his partner, and he was reduced at once to very severe 
want, and his wife not choosing to deprive the creditors of 
anything which they mutually possessed, determined to 
submit her marriage jointure (which was considerable) to 
the general wreck. In the midst of their distressing indi- 
gence they still spent many hours in reading their Bible and 
in prayer, both by day and night. During this period of 



PRAYER. 273 

gloom, which would have thrown many into despair, he 
still entertained views of hope that God would open to him 
a way of escape. His main anxiety was the immediate 
necessities of a young family, whom he sustained, as well 
as he could, by depriving himself. His clothes became 
bad, and his shoes were so worn that his feet were exposed 
to the ground. He was desirous to supply himself with a 
single pair, and had enquired their price, which was stated 
to be nine shillings and sixpence. This he made the sub- 
ject of special prayer, but determined not to buy them 
till he had the money in his possession. But whence it 
was to come he had no idea. In due time he was walking 
along the streets in Leeds, where he was then living, and 
finding that he struck something with his foot which 
bounded before him, he was induced to pick it up. It was 
a small cotton bag, like a child's purse, which he opened, 
and found in it the precise sum, which for some time had 
been the subject of his special petitions. He was greatly 
struck with the coincidence. But thinking an owner might 
be found for it, he employed the crier, and went and 
reported the circumstance at the police station. But no 
one coming forward as a claimant, after waiting some time, 
he devoted his God-send, as he considered it, to the pur- 
chase of his much-needed shoes." 

A converted Jew, who had suffered fearfully for con- 
science 5 sake, narrates the following instance of special help 
vouchsafed to him after special prayer. " Here again," 
he says, " we were met by the goodness of God, exercised 
to us through your instrumentality. Permit me to call to 
your remembrance your having forwarded to us at this 
time a hamper, containing the contributions of your house- 
hold, thus supplying us with the food needed, in a way 

12* 



274 PRAYER. 

which we had not anticipated. I must also mention an- 
other fact connected with this circumstance, which much 
affected me. Although you had kindly supplied us with 
provisions, still we were without money, and we were in 
great want of a small sum, which we did not possess, and 
the next day being Sunday we had neither means nor 
opportunity to seek for it. In this extremity we applied 
to Him who had so frequently helped us through the wil- 
derness, and never shall the needy apply to Him in vain. 
In a singular way relief came to our hands. As it was 
Saturday my wife was putting our house in order, cleaning 
every part, and whilst so doing she thought she discovered 
amidst the sweepings of the room something folded up in a 
piece of paper. She picked it up and opened it, and what 
was her surprise when she found it contained the exact 
sum we needed. We immediately concluded that in un- 
packing your hamper we had overlooked this little paper, 
which had dropped out of one of the parcels in which you 
had enclosed it. Joy and gratitude filled our hearts. We 
could not but observe how remarkably the Lord had timed 
this relief. Had we discovered it before, we should not 
have felt half so thankful, but having been made to feel 
our necessity, and then having gone to the Lord to ask for 
help, w r e received it more immediately as a gift from Him. 
In a few moments it might been swept away in the dust."* 

* "Who else was it but the Gk)d of Elijah, who, only a short time ago, 
so kindly delivered a poor man out of his distress, not indeed by a raven, 
but by a poor singing bird ? The man was sitting early in the morning 
at his house door. His eyes were red with weeping, and his heart cried 
to heaven, for he was expecting an officer to come and distrain him for a 
small debt. Whilst sitting thus with a heavy heart, a little bird flew 
over his head into the cottage, and perched itself within an empty cup- 
board. The poor man closed the door, caught the bird, and placed it in 



PRAYER. 275 

Let us now turn to the grounds and Scripture war- 
rants for Expectation in Prayer. 

We have many statements in Holy Scripture which 
afford good ground for Expectation in Prayer. The follow- 
ing will suffice for our present purpose. 

"What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark xi, 
24. 

"Ask, and it shall be given you." Matt, vii, 7. 

" Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." 
John xiv, 13. 

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye 
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." 
John xv, 7. 

" If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of Grod, that 
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it 
shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing 
wavering." James i, 5, 6. 

" If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do 
this which is done to the fig-tree, but also, if ye shall say 
unto this mountain. Be thou removed, and be thou cast into 

a cage, whereat soon began to sing very sweetly, and it seemed to the 
man as if it were the tune of a favorite hymn, ■ Fear thou not when dark- 
ness reigns;' and as he listened to it he found it soothe and comfort his 
mind. Suddenly some one knocked at the door ; but instead of the officer 
whom the poor man so much drellded, it was the servant of a respect- 
able lady, who said that the neighbors had seen a bird fly into his house, 
and wished to know if he had caught it. c Oh, yes,' replied the man, 
here it is;' and the bird was carried away. A few minutes after she 
came back, and said, ' You have done my mistress a great service ; she 
sets a high value upon the bird that had escaped. She is much obliged 
to you, and requests you to accept this trifle, with her thanks.' The 
poor man received it thankfully, and it proved to be no more nor less 
than the sum he owed!" — From Krummacher\s Elijah 



276 PRAYER. 

the sea ; it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye 
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Matt, 
xxi, 21, 22. 

All these give us warrant for strong expectation ; so also 
does sanctified reasoning upon the character and attri- 
butes of God. 

If we reason on God's character, how can we but trust 
that He will answer our prayer ? We know He is true ; 
we have read His promises ; we believe that He will be as 
good as His word ; His very character is a guarantee on 
which we can rest. 

Is He not also loving ; does He not care for the true 
interests of His children ; does He not wish them to have 
everything that is good for them ; is not His heart's affec- 
tion set upon them ; if so, have they not a warrant for ex- 
pectation from the existence of this feeling in God ? The 
consciousness of another's love emboldens us to ask from 
those on earth ; how much more should it from the One 
in heaven ! Never was love so true, so steady, so large 
and ungrudging as His ; He is our Father, and we, if in 
Christ, are His children ; and we should expect from His 
love, just as a child expects from its parent's lo^e. 

Is He not also omnipotent ; has He not all resources at 
His command ; are not all the beasts of the forest His, and 
the cattle upon a thousand hills ; can He not " make all 
things work together for good t$ them that love Him," and 
should not all these considerations strengthen our expecta- 
tions in prayer? We have to limit our expectations from 
our fellow-men by their resources ; they may be willing, 
and yet not be able to help us ; they may be able to do a 
part of what we want, but not the whole; there should 
however be no limit in our expectations from God ; we 



PRAYER. 277 

should look at Him in prayer as able to do all we want, 
and to do it with the greasest ease. If I want money for 
His cause, * or my own need, I think " He owns every 
guinea in the world." As I walk along the road I say, 
" He can turn the very stones into gold if He will, He can 
make the dust on the roadside gold dust ;" I look up at the 
sky, and there I see white fleecy clouds, or clouds like 
heaps of glowing gold, and I say, "If He willed, He could 

* It is a matter of great importance that we should simply look to G-od 
as the great and original proprietor of all wealth, without allowing our- 
selves to be influenced by the possibilities of things. The author had 
need of £10 for a specific work which he proposed to undertake for God ; 
he committed the matter to G-od in prayer, and said that he would con- 
sider the Lord's sending the money as the token that the enterprise was 
to be undertaken. Unless the money came within a limited time, the 
occasion for its expenditure would have passed away. Day after day 
the matter was laid before Grod, but the money did not come. At last, 
one Saturday, a stranger called, and took five sovereigns out of his pocket, 
and gave it to the author to spend in charity. The latter asked him " to 
what he wished it applied?" He answered, " To anything you like." 
" Have you no object particularly in view to which you wish it given ?" 
"No, you are to spend it any way you like." He was then told of the 
enterprise in hand, and how the Lord had been asked to put money at 
the minister's own disposal, with a view to its being spent in that par- 
ticular way. " Well," said he, " I have just come from your church, and 
I was about to drop these five sovereigns into the boxes at the doors for 
the new schools; but something said to me, "Don't do it; perhaps the 
minister will want them more for something else ; and if you don't get 
the other £5 anywhere else, I'll give it to you." The author was now 
anxious that it would please G-od to send him the £5 from some other 
quarter, so that the giver of the first £5 should feel that he was not as it 
were come down upon for the whole sum, and that he might not think 
that the Most High was limited in His resources ; and it was put before 
the Lord in this way — " Lord, is it not more for Thy honor and glory 
that this other £5 should come from some other person ?" The second 
£5, also, was sent by post, a few days after, from a very unexpected 
quarter. 



278 PRAYEE. 

turn that fleecy cloud into bank notes, and tear from it a 
thousand for me ; He could turn that glowing mass of vapor 
into solid metal, and break off a piece for me, which would 
be a thousand-fold more than I require." 

He has a great treasury ; and with my mind's eye I con- 
template that treasury, and I say to Him, " Put Thine hand 
into Thy treasury, Lord ; take from it what I need ; give 
it unto me," and then expectation rises under such consid- 
erations as these. 

Is not God generous : does not He love to give ; is He 
not always giving; did He not give up His only Son to die 
for us, and "how shall He not with Him also freely give 
us all things?" Hear what he says to the Jews by the 
mouth of His prophet Malachi, (iii, 10,) " Bring ye all the 
tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine 
house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, 
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to 
receive it." When Jesus fed the thousands, the fragments 
exceeded the original provision ; when bread was rained 
from heaven upon the multitudes in the wilderness, it fell 
in profusion, so that there was abundance for all ; when 
Hannah asked for one son, she received four sons and two 
daughters. The epistles are full of the generosity of God ; 
we read of " the exceeding and eternal weight of glory, "* 
and of "the exceeding greatness of His power, "f and of 
" the exceeding riches of His grace, "J and of " the grace 
of the Lord exceeding abundant, "§ and of . " exceeding 
great promises." || " Now," says the apostle, after he had 
spoken of the wondrous extent of the love of Christ, " unto 

* 2 Cor, iv, 11. f E Ph. i, 19. { Eph. ii, 1. 

§ 1 Tim. i, 14, || 2 Peter i, 4. 



PRAYER. 279 

Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that 
wc ask or think, according to the power that worketh in 
us ; unto Him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, 
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Eph. 
iii, 20, 21. 

It would greatly help our expectation in prayer if we 
called all these attributes of God to mind, and meditated on 
His character in connection with our need; if, when we 
were engaged in any hard matter, or when our faith began 
to stagger, we exercised ourselves for a few minutes in such 
thoughts as a preliminary to prayer. If we did this, in all 
probability our faith would rise, our expectation would 
strengthen, and an earnestness and reality which otherwise 
might have been wanting, would enter into our prayer. 
Try this, dear reader ; it will not be without good effect. 

Let us now consider The Results of Expectation in 
Prayer. 

One result will be, more precision of meaning in our 
prayers. Many prayers are offered with, it is to be feared, 
but little precision of meaning ; in fact with so little mean- 
ing, that the petitioner would be in no small degree aston- 
ished if he were taken at his word in prayer ; perhaps if 
God were to say to him, "I will grant that fully," he 
would be inclined to start back, and not repeat the prayer 
again. 

There are many things which we think we ought to pray 
for, which our spiritual knowledge tells us a Christian 
should desire ; but do we really desire them, are we really 
anxious to get them, when we ask for them in prayer? For 
example, we pray that God would by His Spirit reveal 
more and more to us the naughtiness of our own hearts and 



280 PRAYER. 

evil natures ; is the petitioner really desirous of an answer ; 
is he ready for disquieted hours, for humbling experiences, 
for deep depressions, for more self-loathing than he has 
ever experienced as yet? Or, he may ask for higher 
exaltation above the world, and its pursuits, and aims, and 
interests ; he knows that that is a very fitting prayer for a 
true-hearted Christian man to make ; but is he really 
anxious that God should in His own way grant the thing 
that He desires ? It is useless to pray with the expecta- 
tion of being answered in the way, or by the process we 
desire ; if we pray, we must leave the method of the answer 
entirely with God ; and when we offer a prayer like this, 
do we really mean that God should answer it, and do what 
we have asked ? 

If we have learned to expect in prayer, to believe that 
an answer will really come in the very point in which sup- 
plication has been made, we shall surely be precise in what 
we Bay to God. If I have learned from experience to 
expect an answer to prayer, then if I want money for the 
Lord's cause, or even for my own necessities, w r hat I am to 
ask for is money ; if I am going a journey and ask for 
divine protection, then what I am to expect is, that God 
will give His angels charge over me, and that they will 
take care of my body, and that accidents which were per- 
haps imminent will be averted, and obstacles cleaned out of 
my path ; these will serve as examples of precision and 
meaning in prayer. 

And why should we not be precise in prayer ? We are 
precise in our dealings with our fellow men ; no one thinks 
of going to another with merely a vague petition to give 
him something ; or with a string of meaningless petitions, 
to give him things which he does not want, or which he 



PRAYER. 281 

does not care to have : this want of precision would destroy 
all reality in the petitioners supplications, and would pretty 
surely be the means of sending him empty away : oh. let us 
not deal with God with less earnestness, and reality, than 
we employ with our fellow man ; when we pray to Him let 
us at least mean what we say. And we shall thus mean, 
if we expect ; and thus meaning, and expecting, our prayers 
will be real, and solid, and precise : they will be divested 
of many unmeaning words, and their very plainness will 
add to their intensity, and plain answers will be sure to 
come to such plain prayers. Dear reader, if you have not 
hitherto been precise in your prayer, begin to be so now : 
you will find incalculable advantage from being so ; offer no 
prayer, in which you are not both willing and desirous that 
God should take you at your word. 

Another good result of this expectation in prayer, will 
be a greater readiness to pray. If we think that God will 
grant our petitions, we shall assuredly be all the more 
ready to come and make them. We are very loth to go 
and ask a favor, where we think we are likely to be de- 
nied : we have not the heart to go and make our petition ; 
but if we really expect from God, we shall be very ready 
to come, and ask for what we want. Prayer, when thus 
looked at, is too productive to be allowed to remain unused ; 
we shall be quick to ask, when we are sure to get. One 
cause of backwardness in prayer is our doubt and uncer- 
tainty, if not our actual unbelief, about getting an answer ; 
these take away our cheerfulness and readiness in prayer, 
and make it hard labor instead of blessed privilege. 

A further good result will be less expectation from, and 
leaning on man. seeing ice have the Everlasting God 
Himself to go to. Man has always been a snare to his 



282 PRAYER. 

fellow man, leading him to trust in human flesh, instead 
of in the living God. Israel leaning upon Egppt is a 
picture that is reproduced every day. We have a beautiful 
instance of simple leaning upon God and turning away from 
man, together with expectation from God in prayer, in the 
book of Ezra. "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the 
river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, 
to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, 
and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require 
of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us 
against the enemy in the way, because he had spoken unto 
the king, saying, ' The hand of our God is upon all them 
for good that seek Him, but His power and His wrath is 
against all them that forsake Him.' So we fasted and 
besought our God for this, and He was in treated of us." An 
immense treasure was now put into the hands of a helpless 
company of priests to convey to Jerusalem, their only pro- 
tection being the prayer offered on their behalf ; but that 
prayer was sufficient safeguard, not an ounce of gold or 
silver was lost. " Then we departed from the river of 
Ahava, on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto 
Jerusalem ; and the hand of our God was upon us, and He 
delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as 
lay in wait by the way." Ezra viii, 21, 22, 23, 31. 

To lean on man is to lean upon a broken reed ; it is to 
throw ourselves in the way of disappointment ; and in most 
instances it is <to dishonor God. Why need we thus lean, 
if we be really expecting what we want from God ; why 
should we subject ourselves to vexations and distress ; why 
should we consider our circumstances bad when men fail 
us ; why should we be dependent upon them at all? One 
of the best cures that we can possibly have for all this, is to 



PRAYER. 283 

expect answers to our prayers to God, to tell Him of our 
need, and then to expect from Him, as one both able and 
willing to supply our wants. 

A spirit of expectation in prayer would further make 
our minds much more cheerful after our prayer has been 
offered up. We should then have rolled off our pressing 
care on God ; and be proportionately unburdened in our own 
minds. 

The very fact of having committed a trouble to God 
ought to give us cheerfulness and peace ; we may now, if 
we have an expecting spirit, say, " My God will take this 
matter in hand, and arrange everything for me for the 
best ; He will bring His resources and His wisdom to bear 
on my behalf; my care is cast on Him." How often, how- 
ever, are we as sad after prayer as we were before we went 
to commit our troubles to the Lord : we took our burden to 
the throne, and brought it away with us again ; if we laid 
any, we laid only a part on God. A certain man carrying 
a burden on his back was met by a rich man as he drove 
along, and invited to get up behind the carriage, which 
offer was thankfully accepted. After a while the rich man 
turned round, and saw the burden still strapped to the 
traveller's back : he asked him why he did not lay down his 
pack on the seat beside him? but he answered, u he could 
not think of doing that ; it was quite enough that he him- 
self should be allowed to sit behind the carriage, without 
putting his burden on the seat also.*' This is what many 
amongst us are doing ; we keep our burden strapped tightly 
to us : we expect at the best but some relief; we think it 
too much to expect God to bear it all. 

A certain man with small means, and a large family, 
struggled on year after year ; and as each child was born, 



284 PRAYER. 

he felt a fresh load of care come upon his shoulders. At 
length when the eighth was born, he felt that the weight of 
their provision was a burden heavier than he could bear, 
let him toil never so hard ; so he deliberately handed them 
all over to God, and henceforth became a cheerful and 
prosperous man. 

Surely if we rise from our knees without some sense of 
relief, and some lightening of heart, we cannot have had an 
expecting spirit in prayer. 

Go up, then, Christian reader, to your closet, with tears 
in your eyes, but come forth from it without them, having 
wiped them away as you rose from your knees ; go up with 
a heavy tread, bearing almost a mountain of care upon 
your heart, but come down with a lighter, if not with an 
elastic step, expecting that God has heard your prayer, and 
will answer it without fail ; you may not be able to feel joy- 
ous, but surely you may feel cheerful, and you will be 
cheerful, if you practically expect an answer, if you believe 
that one will come. 

It may, perhaps, be thought by some, Will not such feel- 
ings as these take away a man's energy in the use of means ? 
Far from it. We note as a further result of expectation in 
prayer, that it will give more energy in the use of means. 
The Christian is no wild enthusiast ; he knows that while 
God can work without means, He yet in almost all instances 
w r orks by them. It is very seldom also that the means are 
not plainly indicated ; we may pray that they should be so, 
and when we have thus prayed, and they are opened out, 
then in the expectation of a blessing we shall work with 
redoubled energy and zeal. The probability is, that our 
very expectation will give us such a spring of energy, as 
will produce with God's blessing the desired result. We 



PRAYER. 285 

know that there is great difference in the work of a spirited 
and a spiritless man. A man .who feels that he has no 
chance of success, or that the chances are largely against 
him, has little heart for his work ; difficulties easily daunt 
him ; opportunities which open out before him, he does not 
avail himself of : the very elements of success are wanting. 
But let the same man, and in the very same position, have a 
fair prospect of success ; let him feel that he can succeed : 
let him have a still stronger feeling that he is destined to 
succeed, and he now appears a very different man from what 
he was before ; he is alive in his work, he is hearty in it, 
and that very life and heartiness go far towards securing 
success. When Alexander was giving away estates and 
domains with lavish prodigality, before setting forth on his 
eastward march, Perdiccas asked him what he reserved for 
himself. Hope — was the sole reply. And the whole secret 
of his wondrous career of insatiable conquest, fearless intre- 
pidity, and boundless aspiration, lies wrapped up in that 
sublime answer. 

Dear Christian reader, not only pray, but also expect an 
answer to your prayer ; take up the Psalmist's " I will," 
and say, " As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord 
shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I 
pray, and cry aloud : and He shall hear my voice." 

He, however, who says with the Psalmist, "I will call 
upon God, and the Lord shall save me," must not only 
believe that an answer will come, but must further be on 
the look out for that answer. It might be truly said, that 
many a Christian is taken unawares by the answers to his 
prayers. Is it not a fact that we often send forth our 
petitions, and think no more about them, as though it were 
a matter of indifference whether an answer came or not, or 



286 PRAYER. 

as though it were a matter for speculation whether our 
prayers were heard? So much is this the case, that there 
is little doubt but that we have had many things in answer 
to prayer, which we have never recognised at all as having 
come in that way, and for which we have never thanked 
God. If we write to a rich and kind friend to help us in 
some hour of need, we watch the post for an answer ; if we 
invest money in any enterprise, we look for a return ; we 
will not believe our petitions or our hopes to be in vain, 
until they are proved to be so ; in prayer alone do we act as 
though from the very commencement we took it for granted 
that they must be so. " The Rev. Joseph Alleine, writing 
from Ilchester prison to his flock at Taunton, says, ' Let 
prayer never be a form ; always realize it a-s an approach 
to the living God for some specific purpose, and learn to 
watch for the returns of prayer.' A Sabbath school teacher, 
in the village of Braaing, in the Isle of Wight, said to 

another teacher, ' W , I am quite sure I shall be made 

useful to-day, in the conversion of some of my boys.' 
'Why?' was the reply. 'Because,' said he, 'I have had 
such nearness to God, and have been enabled to exercise 
faith in His promises.' That praying Sabbath school teacher 
came expecting an answer to his prayers, and was not dis- 
appointed. Four of the boys were that day converted to 
God through his instrumentality ; and for twenty years, 
those boys have evidenced that it was the work of the Holy 
Spirit upon their hearts. Three of them became preachers 
of the gospel, and the fourth lived a very consistent private 
Christian."* 

It is not honoring God to pray and yet not look out for 

* Phillips's Remarkable Answers. 



PRAYER. 287 

the answer to our prayers ; what could we expect from our 
fellow man if we showed such carelessness as this ? God is 
greatly robbed of His glory when He gives and when we 
do not recognise what we receive as His gift ; the display 
of His attributes which unfolded themselves in His answer 
to our prayer is thrown away on us ; and can God be robbed 
of His glory without our having to suffer chastisement in 
one form or another ? 

But we must be Patient in Expectation. This subject 
of " Patience in Expectation" is one of the utmost impor- 
tance. God's ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts 
as our thoughts, and some answers to prayer have to be 
brought about by the working of complicated machinery, 
event fitting into event, and influence working with influence 
for many days. 

If we be men of prayer, we must expect our patience to 
be tried by many temptations ; God is honored when His' 
people wait upon Him, and Satan will not see them waiting 
upon Him without endeavoring to shake their faith. All 
attempts to hurry God's dealings are sure to be productive 
of bad results ; even when we are most sure of having asked 
according to God's mind, and of receiving an answer, we 
must leave the time unreservedly to Him. 

It is no doubt very hard to expect in patience, when all 
things seem to be going against us ; when week after week, 
and it may be year after year pass by, and the answer ap- 
pears no nearer at hand than it was before ; but let us 
remember that God gives liberal interest for every year that 
He keeps our prayers unanswered ; and that what becomes 
us, is to wait at His footstool, and not to hurry His arrange- 
ments. The most luscious fruits are often those which are 
longest in maturing, the richest blessings are often those 



288 PRAYER. 

which take longest in coming; an unripe blessing may 
prove sour to the teeth, and unhealthful when partaken of ; 
impatience is almost always accompanied by loss. 

We add two or three instances of answers given to 
prayer, after apparently long delay ; how full, how rich 
are they — how well worth waiting for — how gradual in 
their incoming — how grand their results — verily there are 
great answers for patient prayers. 

u A mother had been for years the only Christian in the 
family. Her husband and nine children were not immoral, 
but none of them gave evidence of piety. Had this mother 
been less firm in her character and faith, and less resolute 
of purpose, she might have yielded to the current, plead- 
ing that resistance was unavailing. But she was qualified 
to meet the responsibility of her position. She felt that 
God had committed to her trust ten unconverted souls, dear 
as her own life, and that she must so fulfil the obligations 
resting on her, that if any were lost, it should not be 
through her neglect of duty. She carefully endeavored, 
* first of all, that her own life should be consistent with her 
profession, and she also improved every propitious season in 
giving judicious instruction and warning. She used all 
appropriate means, and in her various efforts, love was the 
dominant power exhibited in those acts of kindness which is 
i a potent winner of the heart.' But her great reliance was 
upon fervent, unceasing prayer, sent upward to the mercy- 
seat, with unwavering faith in the Divine promises. In the 
many supplications offered in secret, the strength of mater- 
nal love added fervor to devotion. She used to say that 
her thoughts were diverted, and the ardor of intercession 
damped by passing over different topics ; and therefore, 
although she prayed for all her family at once, yet so she 



PRAYER. 289 

could not 'pour out her heart like water before the Lord.' 
She presented each child separately before the throne of 
grace. In this individual supplication she formed the habit 
of what might be called concentrated prayer. The power 
of supplication was expended upon one child, as if it had 
been an only one ; and intense became the earnestness thus 
fixed and kindling upon a single object. This was indeed 
prayer, and in His own time it prevailed with God. 

" But long had this mother seemed to pray in vain, and 
her faith was sorely tried through years of ' hope deferred.' 
Yet now the reaping time was near. She who had gone 
forth weeping, sowing the precious seed, was to return 
again, bringing her sheaves with her. 

'•The first convert was the eldest daughter; the two 
eldest sons soon after obtained the good hope through 
grace. And successively, at intervals, the whole of the 
nine children made a profession of faith. Unbounded 
thankfulness and joy filled the mother's heart, but one sor- 
row remained — the husband and father was still impenitent. 
There was great despondency on his account, for he was 
now advancing in years, and he had begun to form the 
habit of intemperance. For him, the many prayers re- 
mained unanswered. Had the supplicating wife, in the 
abundance of her blessings, received all that God was will- 
ing to grant ? Must the father see all his family in the 
kingdom of heaven, and he himself c thrust out V This 
thought was a burden too heavy to be borne, and yet she 
who by l the fervent effectual prayer of the righteous' had- 
availed so much, feared that her last desire, the salvation 
of her husband, might not be granted. All her tears, en- 
treaties, and prayers, had not prevailed ; and might not the 
harvest be past ? After much painful reflection, the faith- 

13 



290 PRAYEE. 

ful wife resolved to make one final effort, and then leave the 
case with God. She spent a night of anguish, with a fervor 
of supplication she had never before experienced ; and in 
the morning she thus addressed her husband : ' I have 
offered for you many prayers; have often entreated you to 
attend to your salvation ; but it has been all in vain. God 
has given me my children, but you are without hope. I 
can do no more. We have lived happily together in time, 
but I fear we must be separated in eternity ; I have but 
one more request to make, and then I must leave you with 
God. Do this moment seek the salvation of your soul. 7 

This message, brought down from the i mount of God/ 
was irresistible. The husband seemed for a moment par- 
alyzed and speechless. Finding utterance, he simply re- 
plied, with significant emphasis, 'I will.' He immediately 
left his work and retired to the field, resolving, as he after- 
wards said, never to return till he had become a Christian. 
The whole long summer day down to the deep shades of 
night was he absent, to the alarm of his family, who sought 
but found him not. 

" Thinking himself that they would be distressed at his 
absence, he returned, not a Christian, but deeply laden with 
the burden of sin. Some days passed away, and then he 
experienced a change from death unto life. He dare not 
at first trust the evidences of conversion, but the light in- 
creased as he 'followed on to know the Lord,' and fear was 
overpowered by joy. 

" A revival of religion had commenced at the time, and 
the aged convert attended the evening meeting. He sup- 
posed that none had heard of the change in his character, 
but there was joy on earth as well as i among the angels,' 
for the tidings had spread abroad. When the meeting 



PRAYER. 291 

was dismissed, the young converts and members of the 
church gathered around the new disciple, taking him by 
surprise as they rejoiced over his salvation. It was a mov- 
ing scene. As he described it, { the young people wept and 
wept, we were all children together, and I as much a child 
as any of them.' The cup of the praying mother could 
hold no more. God had granted all that she asked, and she 
could now hope to sit down at last with all her family in 
heaven. Oh, infinite reward of faith and prayer ! What 
glory of earth can be named with this ? 

"The praying mother still lives, extremely aged, blind, 
infirm, but retaining remarkably her mental faculties and 
her spiritual vigor. She has seen her children connected 
with pious families, and listened to some of them as preach- 
ers of the gospel. Most of her grand-children are also 
members of the church, one a missionary to a foreign land, 
and for each of the unconverted she continues the daily 
prayer. The aged disciple patiently waits, but longs to 
depart. She often turns her sightless orbs up towards 
heaven, as if asking l How long, Lord, how long ?' But, 
long as her life has been protracted, she has not lived in 
vain. Christian mothers, see in this example what power 
God has granted you. Use it faithfully and well, for great 
is ' the recompense of reward.' " 

It is told in the " Life of Mrs. Winslow," that she 
determined, with God's blessing, that every member of her 
family should appear with her at God's right hand. 

She wrestled long in prayer, and she had the happiness 
of seeing, one after another, her children brought to God, 
until not one was left "without God in the world." She 
ascribes this to no miracle, except the miracle of grace that 
is wrought in every soul brought home, but she does recog- 



292 PRAYER. 

nise answer to prayer in her having lived to see this won- 
drous sight. 

For many a long year did the seaman's prayer lie in the 
old oak chest, but at length, like the chrysalis, it burst its 
shell and came forth to life and light. Captain Mitchell 

It was from early life accustomed to the sea. He 

commanded a merchant's ship that sailed from Philadelphia. 
After his marriage he again went to sea, and committed to 
writing, while in a highly devotional frame of mind, a 
prayer for the temporal and eternal happiness of his 
beloved wife and unborn babe. 

This prayer, nearly filling a sheet of paper, was deposited, 
with his other writings, at the bottom of an old oak chest. 
The captain died before the completion of the voyage, in 
the year 1757, and his instruments, papers, &c, were 
returned to his wife. Finding they were generally what 
she could not understand, she locked up the chest for her 
babe, (who proved to be a son,) at some future time. At 
eighteen this son entered the army, and in 1775 marched 
for Boston. He gave the reins to his lusts, and for many 
years yielded to almost every temptation to sin. At length 
he was called to the death-bed of his mother, who gave him 
the key to his father's chest, which, however, he did not 
open, lest he should meet with something of a religious 
kind that should reprove his sins and harass his feelings. 
At length, in 1814, when in his fifty-sixth year, he deter- 
mined to examine its whole contents. When he reached 
the bottom he discovered a paper, neatly folded, and en- 
dorsed, " The prayer of Mitchell R for blessings on 

his wife and child, August 23, 1757." He read it; the 
scene, the time, the place, the circumstances under which 
it was written and put there, all rushed upon his mind, and 



PRAYER. 293 

overwhelmed him, for often had his widowed mother led 
him to the beach, and pointed to him the direction on the 
horizon where she had traced the last glimpse of flowing 
canvas that bore his father from her, never to return. He 
threw the contents back into the chest, folded up the 
prayer, and put it into the case with his father's quadrant, 
locked up the chest, and determined never again to unlock 
it. But his father's prayer still haunted his imagination, 
and he could not forget it. At length his distress became 
extreme, and a person with whom he lived entreated to 
know the cause. He looked on her with mildness, and 
replied, " I cannot tell you." This only increased her 
solicitude ; he entreated her to withdraw ; as she left the 
room she cast an anxious and expressive look upon him, and 
he instantly called her back. He then, with all the feel- 
ings which an awakened guilty conscience could endure, 
told the cause of his agonies — his father's prayer in the old 
chest. She thought him deranged, his neighbors were 
called in to comfort him, but in vain. The prayer had 
inflicted a wound which the Great Physician of souls only 
could heal. From that period he became an altered man, 
forsook every way of sin, united himself to the Church of 
Christ, set his slaves at liberty, and lived and died a 
humble, exemplary Christian. 

Let the parent, then, who prays for the conversion of a 
child, or the husband or wife who prays for the conversion 
the one of the other : let the man who prays for some spir- 
itual blessing, it may be perhaps for that of deep assurance, 
or- the perfect victory over some besetting sin, let such, and 
all who are praying according to the mind and will of God, 
be patient, ; ' In due season they shall reap if they faint 
not." " Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious 



294 



PRAYER. 



fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he 
receive the early and latter rain, be ye also patient," the 
answer is on its way, hail even a little sign of it ; it was 
from a cloud no bigger than a man's hand that the heavens 
became overcast, and then there fell, in answer to the 
prophet's prayer, abundance of rain. 



IX. 
Me "& WilV oi i«tft»t §vapr. 

Psalm xxviii. 1. " Unto TJiee will levy. Lord, my rock ; be not silent 
to me : lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the 

piv 

Psalm lv, 17. "Evening, and morning, and at noon, icill I pray, and 
cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice." 

Psalm lxiii, 1. " God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee : my 
soul thirsteih for TJiee, my flesh longeth for TJiee in a dry and thirsty land 
where no water w." 

OW shall we undertake to speak of this subject ? 
What do we know of it ? Where is the pen that 
can write worthily of it ? When we see a speci- 
men of it in Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, when 
we think of the agony of supplication there, we are ashamed 
to take up the subject of Intensity in Prayer ; none could 
speak worthily of it, save He, who realized it in His own 
tears, and woe, and bloody sweat. 

And yet this subject must not be passed by, for it is one 
of great importance to the Christian : the higher we rise fa 
our spiritual life, the more shall we know practically of 
Intensity in Prayer. 

We are to consider here, 
The seasons of Intense Prayer. 
There are two distinct seasons of intense prayer ; (1) 
those with which circumstances have to do : and (2) those 




296 PRAYER. 

in which man is being wrought upon by immediate and 
independent operations of the Spirit. 

We are sometimes brought into such circumstances, that 
a fixed and speedy time must settle a question* Per- 
haps the life or death of a beloved relative is in jeopardy ; 
a decision in some important question has to be made ; relief 
is required for pain which must be borne within the next 
hour ; strength is needed to carry us through an interview, 
which must come off within the next few minutes ; grace 
and wisdom are needed for our lips in dealing with some one 
whom we love, and whose soul is in jeopardy, and now an 
opportunity is afforded of speaking to him ; these are some 
examples of circumstances, in which time becomes an 
element of intensity in prayer. But they are only examples, 
for such circumstances are continually occuring; if an 
answer is to be given at all, it must be within a certain 
time. 

God has often taught His people the meaning of intensity 
in prayer, by bringing them thus decidedly to a point ; they 

* " When the Rev. Mr. Clarke and Dr. Prince were in Western Africa, 
they penetrated a part of the interior, where a warlike tribe resided, 
which they had never before seen. It being a perilous undertaking, they 
offered special prayer for the Divine protection and blessing. At length, 
on the top of a hill, the tribe appeared, with their weapons of war. At 
the command of their chief, they rushed down the hill with their pointed 
lances, as if intent on the destruction of the two strangers. The mis- 
sionaries again earnestly prayed that the Lord would manifest His pro- 
tecting power and give them an opportunity of proclaiming Christ to 
these savages. They encouraged each other to exercise confidence in 
God, with the words, 'Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.' They 
therefore stood still and prayed. The tribe soon encircled them; and 
when death seemed most imminent, the warriors threw down their 
weapons to the ground, and the missionaries at once made known to 
them the glorious gospel." — Phillips's Remarkable Answers, 



PRAYER. 297 

now find with how little intensity they had often prayed 
before ; they seem to themselves never to have prayed at 
all : they feel what a strong reality prayer is. Many a 
mother has thus learned Intensity of Prayer, by the bed- 
side of a fevered child : many a father by the bed-side of an 
almost dying wife ; into a few moments, they seem then to 
compress all the prayers of former years. Call not, dear 
reader, upon God, to teach you how to pray intensely by 
such experiences as these : if you be a child of God, you 
must be taught " Intensity in prayer,'' but you need not 
learn it thus ; you may obtain it by direct influences of the 
Spirit : and then, when the time of need has come, you 
will be called upon to use. not to learn intensity of prayer. 

Another season of intensity in prayer, is when sudden 
calamity comes upon us. There are occasions in life, when 
we feel ourselves in a moment plunged into trouble, bereft 
of our usual resources, and friends, and left solitary to get 
out of our affliction as best we can : we awake as in a mo- 
ment to find ourselves in circumstances of great distress, 
from whatever cause that distress may come. At such 
seasons, we find ourselves brought into the immediate pres- 
ence of God ; we feel that we must have more than human 
support, or we shall be unable to bear up under the sudden 
pressure that has come upon us : we are driven by our 
sharp distress to intense prayer. 

And it is thus that sudden calamity should indeed be met. 
Nothing will so calm the mind, and fit it for deliberation, 
as a few moments of intense prayer : in that intense prayer, 
we may rest assured, God will be found by His children ; 
and having secured Him on their side, they will be able 
steadily to meet that, with Him. Which it would have been 
ill meeting indeed without Him. 

13* 



298 PRAYER. 

When we have had special realizations of the magnitude 
or importance of the thing to be prayed for. is another 
season of intense prayer. The true proportions of things are 
not always seen ; we often pray, little knowing the greatness 
of that which we are praying for.^ We pray, for example, 
that God would graciously preserve us in health and 
strength, continuing to us the use of our faculties, and vari- 
ous blessings, and w T e pray languidly enough : but let us 
be threatened with the speedy loss of some of these blessings, 
or say, of one of them, of our sight, — let us shut our eyes, 
and picture to ourselves a state of darkness continued as 
lon£ as we live ; let us feel ourselves about to be shut out 
from the loving faces of our friends, from the flowers, and 
trees, and fields : let us think that soon every step must be 
taken with uncertainty — that we are destined, it may be, 
to be a burden on those around us ; now we have special 
realizations of the magnitude of that for which we are about 
to pray, when we ask, it may be, that something troubling 
the eye may be removed ; the meaning of which now is, 
that we may not be left to spend our days in blindness ; 
and we shall pray with intensity when we bring this matter 
before God. 

We shall presently meet with these realizations of mag- 
nitude in spiritual things ; the above will serve as an ex- 
ample of what we mean with regard to such realizations 
generally. 

We little know how great are the blessings for which we 
are often praying, and on this account our prayers are dull ; 
God sometimes sets them before us in their true light, and 
quickens us into intensity of prayer. 

When we have been completely shut up in our oivn 
* " Ye know not what jq ask." Matthew xx, 22. 



PRAYER. 299 

resources, and there is heavy pressure upon us, we often 
learn the meaning of Intensity in Prayer. It often happens 
that, without our knowing or intending it, we permit the 
possession of even one slender resource to affect our inten- 
sity in prayer. We honestly do not wish this to be the 
case ; we wish to cast ourselves on God alone ; we wish to 
look to Him alone, but poor weak human nature makes us 
squint out of the corner of our eye at some means which 
seem at hand, or from which we should hope much, if only 
we could get them within our reach. Ask men who have 
been really '-shut up." and that "under pressure," and 
they will tell you the meaning of Intensity in Prayer. 

Let us turn, however, to those seasons of intense prayer 
which are experienced, owing to immediate and indepen- 
dent operations of the Spirit. We have now to consider 
times, when no particular circumstances are working upon 
the mind, to wind it up to such a pitch of earnestness as 
might fitly be described by the word "'intense" — times 
unknown to the people of the world — times well known to 
the people of God. 

These workings of the Spirit may have reference to man 
in a struggling state, or to man in a state of attainment. 
Take man in a struggling state ; he has perhaps just failed 
in some point in which he earnestly desired, and in 
which he had determined to do icell, or it may be that he is 
brooding over such past failures, and is half ?naddened 
at them ; the Spirit of God is now working upon him, He 
is shewing him his weakness, He is proving to him what 
flesh and blood really are, what man is in himself, even 
though he be honest, and well intentioned, and active in 
making effort. Full of shame and self reproach, and it 



300 PRAYER. 

may be of fear with reference to the future, the soul now 
becomes quickened into intensity of prayer, it looks to 
God, it enlists His strength, it seeks to Him as a refuge 
from its own demerits and shortcomings, it sees Him in 
Christ, and puts intensity into some such words as these 
— "Unto Thee do I cry, Lord, my Rock, be not silent 
to me, lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like them 
that go down into the pit.' 7 

Or it may be that the pressure, and burden, and evil 
of sin are now being peculiarly felt. There are times 
when the Spirit of God deals especially with a believer in 
this matter ; when the Lord reveals to a man more than he 
ever knew before of his position before Him as a sinner ; 
when he feels sin to be exceeding sinful. Then comes the 
cry, " wretched man that I am/' then comes the deep 
consciousness of individual vileness and baseness, then the 
heart groans, being burdened. There is now no taste of 
sweetness about sin, but all is unmingled gall and bitter- 
ness; there is now playing around it not a sparkle or 
gleam of light, but all is thick and oppressive darkness ; 
there is now no joy or gladness connected with it, but 
it is "like Ezekiel's roll, written both within and without 
with woe. Oh ! when the Holy Ghost is dealing with a 
man with reference to sin, sin wears an aspect far more 
awful than that which it wears simply under the reproaches 
of conscience. Conscience can tell the difference between 
good and evil, right and wrong, it can tell what is sin, but 
it cannot tell the exceeding evil of sin. To know this, 
there must be a revelation of the holiness of God ; there 
must be a revelation of the intrinsic evil and corruption of 
sin ; there must be certain teachings with reference to our 
own nature ; there must be certain feelings, not one of 



P R AYER, 301 

which is it the immediate office of conscience to bestow, but 
which, one and all. come from the operation of the Holy Ghost. 

When a man is under these operations of the Spirit, he 
knows what it is to be intense in prayer — to pray as a 
pressed and burdened sinner who sees sin to be exceeding 
sinful. Jesus, though sinless, put Himself in the position 
of a sinner, and having done so. He had to feel realizations 
of what sin was. Although sin was not in Him, and had 
never been committed by him, all its anguish, all its horror 
came upon him ; these were, doubtless, some of the ingre- 
dients of that cup of gall and wormwood which He drank of 
in Gethsemane and drained even to the last of its dregs 
upon the cross. We need scarcely point out that these 
experiences of sin, and intense prayer in connection with 
them, are unknown to the people of the world. Very 
superficial indeed are their views of sin, very superficial 
their prayers about it ; but God's people know something 
of all this ; even though such seasons as these of which we 
have been speaking are short, mercifully short, and the pray- 
er connected with them be but one agonized look to heaven, 
or one abashed and broken-hearted look upon the ground. 

Hard following upon this season comes that in which 
man longs intently for inward comfort and peace. He 
wants the peace of God which passeth all understanding ; 
he wants rest in the Lord. There is a state of rest for the 
soul, and that is what he craves. At this time what might 
be called a vision of peace comes over him ; he sees much 
of its blessedness, though he feels that he possesses it not; 
and this drives him to intense prayer. It is God's inten- 
tion that this peace should be given, but it is His intention 
also that it should be earnestly sought; and He stirs up the 
bouI to such prayer as has power with Him and will prevail. 



302 PRAYER. 

There are, however, other immediate and independent 
operations of the Spirit, which have reference to man, not 
so much in a struggling state as in one of attainment. 

The Spirit is ever working, ever teaching, ever leading ; 
and these workings and teachings often have reference to 
prayer. Let us take the case of a man who has made 
attainment in divine things ; there are seasons when such 
an one's heart is under the special influences of the Spirit 
for elevation The Holy Ghost is raising the man, is up- 
heaving his nature, is kindling within Him great desires, 
is gifting him with larger power of prayer. That gift is 
working, and the man thus favored is enabled to pray under 
immediate influences from above. These seasons are gifts 
from God ; may they be bestowed on us more and more ; 
they are sure to produce great results, and they are mani- 
fest tokens of divine favor, 

Then, there are times when there is kindled in the soul 
earnest desire for some spiritual blessing. This desire 
is kindled by the Holy Ghost. At such a time the exceed- 
ing preciousness of this particular blessing is brought 
vividly before us ; the want of it is made more keenly felt; 
the heart's eager and earnest desire is set on the possession 
of it ; it becomes, perhaps, the one leading thought of life, 
and we wrestle with God in prayer, and say, iC I will not 
let Thee go, until Thou bless me." Thus many such 
blessings have been obtained ; happy is he whose earnest 
longing for spiritual blessing has taken such a development 
as this; in intensity of prayer the blessing has been won. 

And who is there at all accustomed to exercise himself 
in prayer, who has not experienced apparent denials; 
denials which required faith to be borne with, denials 
which seemed at the time to be hard and rough ? At 



PRAYER. 303 

times it appeared as though God had forgotten to be 
gracious, as though He had shut up His ear, as though 
He would not listen to our request ; and faint hearts have 
sunk so low, that they restrained prayer, until by some 
special dealing of the Spirit they were roused to it again. 
Now in all purely spiritual blessings we may, as it were, 
say that we will take no final denial from God. He has 
been graciously pleased to put Himself in all such things 
within our power, so that He cannot go away from us, 
leaving us without the spiritual good for which He Himself 
has given us the grace to long. The history of Jacob's 
successful wrestling with the angel is a palpable proof of 
this ; and we may be sure that what took place with the 
patriarch actually, has taken place with many a man sym- 
bolically, and God has graciously yielded, when He found 
Himself with one who by the power of His own Spirit 
could say, " I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.' 7 
Again we would repeat, that men may come to the 
throne of grace for purely spiritual blessings, with deter- 
mination to receive no final denial from God — but let it be 
understood, that this refers to spiritual blessings alone. 
All else we must leave unreservedly to God : and even in 
the matter of purely spiritual blessings, how, and when, 
and through what instrumentality they are to be vouch- 
safed, must be left wholly in God's hands. It would be 
most sinful to kneel down and pray, that without any 
special reference to God's wisdom and will, we should 
receive such and such a blessing — that a child should 
recover — that a husband or a wife should be spared — that 
a speculation in business should succeed — that failing health 
should be restored — or the anguish and debility of illness 
be taken away. 



304 PRAYER. 

To be answered in many such desires, might be the 
means of eventually excluding us from the kingdom of 
heaven — in anger God has answered such prayers as these ; 
He has given men their heart's desires, and "'withal sent 
leanness into their souls." All such things must be left 
entirely to God's judgment and will; and. not only these, 
but a large class of spiritual blessings also. You might 
come, and kneel down, and ask for immediate peace of 
mind, or for immediate knowledge of the deep things of 
God, or for deliverance from some Satanic pressure upon 
your soul, or for a variety of blessings of this class, each 
one of which is undoubtedly most excellent and desirable in 
itself, and not only excellent and desirable, but also a fit 
subject for prayer ; and yet the amount of the answer, and 
the time when that amount shall be vouchsafed, must be 
entirely left in the hands of God. A spiritual blessing, by 
coming at an improper time, might prove a spiritual curse ; 
and the peace which we desire so much, if given at once, 
might, for all we know, but provide the elements of some 
future snare, or keep us back from a future high position 
which otherwise might have been attained. For some 
blessings, however, we may ask, without any reservation or 
any limit. The inestimable blessings of love, of grace, of 
faith, of humility, of patience, and all such, may be sought 
for with such eagerness, that he who seeks for them might 
be said to appear determined to take no denial ; and such a 
feeling is acceptable to God ; it is not presumption, it is 
faith ; it is not audacity, it is boldness ; it is not despera- 
tion, it is energy ; such a feeling shall assuredly gain the 
blessing, and the perseverance which it exercises shall be 
crowned abundantly with success. 

But while denials of whatever is for our good, are only 



PRAYER. 305 

apparent, delays are real, and often most distressing to the 
soul. Promises have been so long delayed, as to have been 
to all human appearances lost, and the exercise of the spirit 
has been carried on, through great disquietude of the flesh. 
Amid all delays, however, the promises of God are sure ; 
though they tarry, they will not tarry beyond the appointed 
time. And whilst we are now waiting and watching; for 
promised blessings, the command comes to us to ask, to 
seek, to knock ; silence on God's part, is not to be met by 
silence on ours : His delays must not destroy our hopes. * 
There is not a child of God on earth, who has not from 
time to time been exercised by delays ; under the trials of 
delay, some of their finest graces have come forth, and the 
highest lustre been conferred upon the jewels of their 
heavenly crowns. Little did men know what God was 
doing for them, when He kept them a long time waiting, 
even for that which He had positively assured them that 
he would give : little did they know, as they looked for- 
ward in patience, and humble trust, that each day thus 
spent, had appended to it its own reward — but thus it has 
ever been — God's promises bear an interest, which accumu- 
lates every day, and in full tale both principal and interest 
shall be paid. 

To us, then, dear reader, may it be given to pray — to 
pray in trouble — to pray continuously — to pray expectingly 
— to pray intensely — to pray in the Holy Ghost. Let us 
tread our pilgrimage's rough road with prayer ; let us face 



* See the case of the Syrophenician woman in Matthew xv, 21, &c. — 
first, " He answered her not a word ;" then He said, " I am not sent but 
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel ;" and lastly, " It is not meet 
to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." 



306 PRAYEB, 

our fierce enemies in prayer ; let us be prepared to meet, 
alike the perils of life's lonely places, and its thoroughfares 
in prayer ; the prayers of this life shall soon be needed no 
more ; then shall our voices mingle in the praises of the 
life that is to come. 



%tt%BVL> 



Psalm lxxi, 16. " I will go in the strength of the Lord God." 

Psalm lxxxvi, 11. " Teach me Thy way, Lord ; I will walk in Thy 

truth? 
Psalm cxvi, 9. u I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." 
Psalm cxix, 32. U I will run the way of Thy commandments, when 

Thou shalt enlarge my heart" 




; HE men of the world are steeped in ignorance as 
regards all things belonging to God, and the 
spiritual life. The world lies in darkness ; it 
loves darkness ; it cannot comprehend any other 
conditions save that of darkness : and it will not come to 
the light because its deeds are evil. Nor was the condition 
of the world changed by the coming of our Lord : it rolls 
on in darkness now, just as it did when He was upon the 
earth : and so it will roll, until He appear again in light 
and glory, when the light shall overcome the darkness, 
and that, when it is thicker and denser than ever it was 
before. 

It is true, we have daily displayed before us the increas- 
ing knowledge of man ; but knowledge is one thing, and 
true wisdom is another, and the world by its wisdom knows 
not God. 

With all man's increase in knowledge, it is really won- 
derful how little he has increased in practical wisdom. 
The pages of history seem to have taught him but little ; 
the experiences of others seem to be thrown away on him ; 
and in kingdoms, societies, and the individual circles of 
men's daily life, we see the same old faults and follies 
renewed again and again. If we strip these of the adven- 
titious circumstances connected with them, we shall find 



310 ACTION. 

how little variety there is in sin. If the people of the 
"world continue thus ignorant in those things which come 
so easily within their comprehension, which come so fre- 
quently under their observation, and in which their own 
visible interests are concerned, is it any wonder that they 
are ignorant of the things of God, of His ways, of His laws, 
of His mind, of the fact that God seeth not as man seeth, 
that His ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our 
thoughts ? 

The wonder is, not that we were ignorant, but that we 
were ever made wise ; and the wonder is dispelled, only by 
our seeing that this was done by the immediate working of 
the Spirit. 

There is no point on which the world is more dark than 
that of its own ignorance — we might truly say, " it is 
ignorant of its ignorance" — it knows enough when it learns 
by rote a few principles of religion ; it comforts itself that 
it is not atheistical because it believes that there is a God ; 
but as to knowing His ways, laws, mind, or any such 
things, with them it has nothing at all to do. 

The people of the world do not care for enlightenment ; 
they feel no pressing need for it ; in all probability they 
have an instinctive feeling that if enlightened they would 
know a little more than they wish to know ; that their 
newly -acquired knowledge would interfere with their old 
habits and ways, and this is one reason why all spiritual 
teaching which goes beneath the surface is distasteful to 
the majority of men. They cannot bear to be brought into 
contact with God, in anything but a general way ; the par- 
ticulars of His character may not agree over well with the 
particulars of their lives ! 

It is the fashion in the present day to talk of man's 



ACTION. 311 

enlightenment, and to represent human nature as upheav- 
ing under its load, as straining towards a knowledge of 
truth ; such is not in reality the case, and wherever there 
is an effort in the mind untaught of the Spirit, it is directed 
towards God as the great moral, and not as the great spir- 
itual Being. A man untaught of the Holy Ghost may 
long to know a moral, he never can desire to know a. spir- 
itual Being. 

Dear reader, cease to wonder that spiritual truth has 
made so little progress in the world, rather wonder that it 
has made so much ; marvel not that so few know anything 
of God, rather marvel that even so many are found who 
say, " Teach me Thy way, Lord." 

The idea, then, of those whom we are accustomed to call 
"good people*' in the world, is that when they recognise 
the existence of God, they do enough : when they acknowl- 
edge His moral government, no more can be required : the 
ideas of God's people on these points are, however, very 
different. In the first place, they feel that they can neither 
know nor desire God's way by themselves. This they have 
been taught by the Holy Ghost. The Spirit has made 
them feel that the natural bent of their minds was away 
from God : they have even detected their minds in the very 
act of loathing divine things ; they have felt themselves vile 
and wicked, in their distaste to all that is spiritual ; but 
with all this knowledge they could make no advance, the 
truth being, that they had still the carnal heart, which, no 
matter what it knows or feels, is, and must be, "enmity 
against God." 

Dear reader, your own experience may doubtless be 
appealed to on this subject. Was there not a time when 
you felt no desire to know more of God, of Hi3 laws, and 



812 ACTION. 

ways, than you had learned in the ordinary teaching, which 
you received perhaps as a child ? That sufficed for you ; 
and if from time to time you saw some glimmering of light, 
it was just enough to make your darkness visible, but you 
did not care to come to the light, nor that that light should 
grow stronger, revealing more and more of God. The 
retrospect of such a season as this makes the believer see 
distinctly how completely he is a debtor to grace ; he says, 
" Had I been left to myself, I should never have sought the 
Lord ; never could I have had a yearning of heart for spir- 
itual views of God; I remember my distaste to divine things 
too well, to deceive myself by supposing that I have grown 
into spiritual desires, or that I have struggled into them, 
or worked myself up to them, or have had the smallest 
part in procuring them for myself." Every man that is 
born of the Spirit knows that he was ignorant, and that he 
loved to continue ignorant, and that he felt a natural aver- 
sion to be taken out of his ignorance, and that he struggled 
against the workings and strivings of the Spirit, be it more 
or less, when that Spirit came into his heart to enlighten 
him about the ways of God. 

Such, then, were the thoughts of God's people in former 
times; very different are they now. They say with the 
Psalmist, " Teach me Thy way, Lord." The Spirit of God 
has taught them that " there is a way which seemeth right 
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death;" 
and that there is another way of which it is written, " In 
the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof 
there is no death." 

Now, it sometimes happens that the process of discovery 
is going on for a considerable time, before the process of 
desire is w T rought out in the heart. Many a man is having 



ACTION. 313 

the excellence of God's ways set before him, and conviction 
of their excellence forced upon his conscience, before his 
heart is being wrought upon to respond to his judgment. 
While a man is in this condition, he must be very unsettled, 
in all probability he is very unhappy ; he is losing, if he have 
not already lost, the measure of satisfaction which he expe- 
rienced in the old ways ; he has not attained to that which 
is to be found in " the more excellent way ;" the old food 
is nauseous ; the new he has not power to eat. And here 
we see how a true work upon the soul must be begun, con- 
tinued, and ended in the Spirit ; He must not only give the 
power of leaving the old way, but also that of entering on 
the new ; and when He is carrying on this latter part of the 
work, He teaches the soul to cry in earnest, such words as 
those before us now, " Teach me Thy way, Lord, I will 
walk in Thy truth." 

The ideas, then, of those who are under the teaching of 
the Spirit, are, in this matter of "the ways of God, ; ' en- 
tirely distinct from those of such as remain in ignoronce of 
divine things ; let us further enquire, \oith what senti- 
ments of mind do such persons desire to be taught? 
The answer to this question will entirely depend upon what 
their exact state is, when the question is asked. 

Some, who are under the early stages of the Spirit's 
work, simply desire to have an end put to their perplexity 
and discomfort ; they do not know as yet, that no matter 
what they learn, they will be ever prompted, under the 
living influences of the Spirit, to desire to learn yet more 
and more ; they think that they can get some one teaching, 
which will put them in the same road as that which is being 
travelled by the children of God. There is ignorance in 
their wish ; yet would to God, that such as it is, it were 

14 



314 ACTION. 

shared by more. When they have attained their desire, and 
feel that they are indeed upon the heavenly road, they will 
surely pass on to a higher stage of spiritual life, and desire 
to know more of God's way, because they want to know 
more of Himself. Progression is the law of life. 

Those, however, who are advanced beyond this low point, 
say, " Teach me Thy way, Lord," with a higher aim. 
They desire entire conformity of mind with God, and as 
a consequent, entire conformity of life. They know that 
their own ways, even when most clear, and apparently un- 
blamable, may be very far from the ways of God ; and they 
would no more grieve Him by an ignorant, than by a wilful 
act. A wilful act of sin is far more wicked than an igno- 
rant one ; it will be visited with far severer punishment ; 
he who knew his Lord's will and did it not, shall be beaten 
with many stripes, while he who knew it not shall be beaten 
with but few ; but the difference in the amount of guilt 
does not set the mind of the clild of God at ease. No ! the 
Spirit-taught man has spiritual sensibilities ; he feels a 
wound if he feels that he has broken God's law, or departed 
from His way, or left a portion of that way untrodden 
through ignorance, or if he have come short of the glory of 
God. Sensitiveness on these points is the consequent of the 
new life, and it makes men not only quick to do what they 
know should be done, but further, desirous of being taught 
wherever they are ignorant. The child of God aims at 
nothing short of perfect conformity to the mind of God ; 
he wants not only that his life should be brought into exact 
obedience to all declared laws, but that his mind should by 
God's Spirit be brought into harmony with God's rules of 
action. He knows that God seeth and judgeth, not as man 
seeth and judgeth, that He has principles of action of a 



ACTION. 315 

standard infinitely higher than any which exists in man's 
highest code of morality, and so he says, " Teach me Thy 
way." 

Dear reader, what do you know of this in your own 
practical experience? Have you been content with your 
oiun way, or with the laws of morality, or with what you 
could pick up for yourself out of the recorded laws of God ? 
or have you gone further, and feeling that much more could 
be attained to, asked God by the Spirit to teach you, " His 
own way?" 

It will, doubtless, be one of the delights of heaven, that 
there the saint shall have his mind in perfect conformity 
with the mind of God, but need we wait for heaven to have 
at least a longing for this ? Oh surely not ; we may say, 
" teach me Thy way," now while we are upon earth. 
This request is ever according to the mind of God ; it is 
one, we may rest assured, that He will be pleased to grant. 

It may be practically useful to enquire, for a few mo- 
ments, What it is that God's people desire to know, 
when they say, " Teach me Thy way." We may make 
the prayer in the passage before us either generally or 
particularly ; no doubt the people of God do both con- 
tinually. 

There are seasons when we feel ourselves peculiarly drawn 
out in desires after holiness and conformity to God, seasons 
of high aspirations, and would to God that we had them 
oftener and that they lasted longer. At such times no 
special difficulty is before the mind, we are simply ab- 
sorbed in the longing to be like God, and our thoughts are 
expressed in the Psalmist's words, " Teach me Thy way." 
The meaning of the prayer under such circumstances is 
this, " Lord, I want to be like Thee; I want to know all 



316 ACTION. 

that will be pleasing to Thee for me to do ; I would under- 
stand Thy principles of action ; I would see more plainly 
the boundary lines of the path which Thou markest out for 
Thy people ; yea, I would see the lines of the path on which 
Thou walkest Thine own self ; I have no spiritual eyesight 
of mine own with which to discern all this, Thy way must 
be revealed by Thyself, oh, teach it now to me." 

We may rest well assured, that whenever we feel within 
us a spiritual aspiration, it is capable of being productive 
of a spiritual result, and moreover it is intended so to be. 
Spiritual aspirations come from the Holy Ghost, and He 
bestows no gift which is not capable of putting forth vital 
energy, and producing its own peculiar fruits. The aspira- 
tion of which we have now been speaking is no exception 
to the rule ; longing for more knowledge of God, and con- 
formity to Him in His mind and ways, will be sure to make 
us cry to Him to reveal Himself to us, for how can we know 
Him unless He manifest Himself to us ? "No man know- 
eth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will 
reveal Him." If, under such feelings as these, we cry, 
"Teach me Thy way, Lord," we shall be sure to have 
an answer. God will, in all probability, reveal Himself 
more and more to us in His holy character ; He will honor 
us by letting us more and more into the secrets of His mind ; 
and when He reveals to us His mind, we shall the more 
easily trace His way. When we say, " Teach me Thy way," 
not under the pressure of any present doubt or difficulty, 
we may be sure that God will recognise the desire to know 
Himself. 

But who is there that does not know, only, alas ! too 
well, the need of being taught what is God's way when 
placed in difficult circumstances, and when difficult ques- 



ACTION. 317 

tions arise ? It is very true, that if our principles of action 
are taught us of God, they will carry us through innumer- 
able difficulties, solving hard questions, pointing out the one 
right way where many roads appear to meet, but there are 
occasions when such principles of action do not carry us 
through our need. The fault may be in ourselves, but at 
such a time we need teaching as to which is the way of 
God. We are now so circumstanced that we must act one 
way or another ; we are pressed upon from without, so that 
we must decide, and that perhaps at once ; we may fail to 
trace any external indications of the Divine will ; what 
remains for us but the Psalmist's prayer, " Teach me Thy 
way?" We may confidently assert that wherever this 
prayer is made in an earnest and honest mind, it will be 
respected and answered by God ; none can seek His glory 
in carrying out His mind and will without being helped to 
act for it by Him. We may be prepared for action ; to do 
whatever is to be done, or to do the very reverse may be 
easy; the question is, "what, or which is to be done?" 
God will shew, if we say in truth " Teach me Thy 
way." 

God has many ways of giving guidance in action, when 
the direction is thus left to Him. Sometimes He will close 
up all avenues except the right one ; at times He will so 
strongly impress the mind, that there can be no doubt but 
that He is speaking to it ; or He will, perhaps, give a won- 
derful unanimity of judgment to those who are consulted 
about the matter, so that looking at the question even from 
different points of view they still come to the same conclu- 
sion ; it may be that He will not use any of these means, 
but will so order incidental circumstances that they may 
gently and almost imperceptibiy put us into such a position 



318 ACTION. 

that we can act but one way ; he who says, "What or which 
is the way of God ?" shall never be left unguided. 

If we turn to Psalm xxxii, 8, we have a beautiful promise 
of guidance, which is well worth our consideration, from 
the way in which that guidance is to be given; "I will 
guide thee with mine eye/' What is the promise here ? 
That of guidance. How is this guidance to be given ? By 
the eye. 

By some no doubt it will be said. " Guidance ! well, 
after all that is not much ; we have sufficient sense to guide 
ourselves ; we have the Scripture, that is guide enough ; 
we do not want a religion that deals in specialties ; we 
understand no such peculiarities as l guidance with the 
eye.' " This is no uncommon language from the world, and 
very often when men shrink from saying this, they by no 
means shrink from acting it out. But God's people recog- 
nise in the promise of guidance a most valuable blessing. 
They know their position here, that they are strangers and 
pilgrims ; they know how many roads cross, or for a time 
run parallel with, the way of life ; they are not ignorant 
of the existence of myriads of evil spirits, whose sole aim is 
to seduce them from the narrow path, who spend every 
energy in trying to ruin their souls ; all this they know ; 
and they know moreover that if left to themselves they 
must be seduced and finally fall away. The people of God 
know their need of continual guidance, and that in every 
day life, as well as in their purely spiritual things, in little 
matters as well as great. But this is not always known at 
once. Some of the Lord's dear people have thought that 
they could guide themselves ; they were well-intentioned : 
they really wished to do what was right ; they were pos- 
sessed of excellent natural abilities, but with all these 



ACTION. 319 

advantages they have gone deplorably wrong. God let 
them go their own way for a while, just to teach them that 
their way was not His, and that it was only so far as they 
were under guidance that they were safe. 

There are some who it seems must be taught in this 
manner or else they will not learn at all ; no doubt such 
are saved, but no doubt also such are sorely bruised. 

In what position are you, dear reader, standing now ; 
have you learned your need of guidance ; does this appeal 
to your experience ; are these matters well known to you ; 
or do you think they are things with which ordinary people 
have nothing at all to do ? The Lord's people know well 
that this guidance is a matter of positive necessity. It is 
not more necessary that a little child of two or three years 
of age should be guided in the crowded street, than that 
they should. It does not matter how old or how wise we 
are, or how good our natural abilities, or how often we have 
guided others, and advised them well in their temporal affairs, 
we need guidance in everything, in every place, and every day. 

Let us enquire what is our present standing ? Have we 
sntered God's family, and learned to look into the Father's 
face ; have we been espoused to Christ, and learned to read 
His looks ; do we feel that we cannot do w T hat is right, 
unless we be specifically taught of God ? 

The phrase " doing what is right," must not now be 
taken in the low sense which is generally given to it by 
many in the world. They mean by it, coming to church, 
and giving subscriptions (generally the stereotyped 
•'■guinea") to charities, and having family prayers, and 
paying their debts, and keeping good company, and being, 
in the ordinary acceptation of the words, "good living 
people." But God's guidance leads a man far beyond all 



320 ACTION. 

these. All these can be done without any guidance from 
heaven at all. What is now meant by " doing right,' 7 is 
acting consistently as a member of the family of God. 
When we are placed in delicate and difficult circumstances, 
when all ordinary landmarks are removed, when our usual 
counsellors are silent, when even outward providential cir- 
cumstances are withheld, are there such communications 
passing between God's mind and ours, that we can feel that 
we are under His guidance ? Can we hear God speaking 
to us when there is not a sound ? can we see Him when 
there is not a sign ? can we read where nothing is written ? 
have we the intelligence of love? 

Say, in what does the perfection of home relationship 
consist ? is it in the fact that meals are spread at proper 
hours, that cleanliness is the characteristic of the house, 
that there is no open jarring or quarrelling, no gross viola- 
tion of well known rules, and such like things ? All these 
have their value in the happiness of home ; but the perfec- 
tion of happiness requires something more. The gross, or 
to use a gentler term, the unrefined mind, will be content 
with such things as are catalogued above ; but there are 
other minds too highly polished, too finely strung for this ; 
their estimate of what the happiness of home should be, is 
pitched too high to be reached by what might be called the 
common decencies and civilities of life. 

No ! the perfection of home relationship consists in the 
intuitive understanding of each other's heart, in the mutual 
possession of that secret, which makes one look stand for 
many words, yea, for feelings, which the great Creator 
never intended to be expressed in words at all; such an 
instrumentality as this stands in the place of a thousand 
rules ; and gives guidance and direction in countless emer- 



ACTION. 321 

gencies, and difficulties, and apparently little things. This 
is what makes brethren dwell together in unity : what 
anoints the wheels of life, so that they never creak and 
jar ; no, not when they have to bear the heaviest load, 
or have to go over the roughest road ; this is like the 
ointment which flowed down upon the skirts of the High 
Priest's robe; who can tell what springs up beneath it, 
for it is as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that 
descended upon the mountains of Zion ? And now, 
come back from all earthly homes to the matter which they 
have been illustrating, and remember that, as in them, so 
also in the family of God, much is required, for which 
there is no rule, no guide, but the intuition of love; no 
remembrancer but (not the declaration, but) the expression 
of God's mind; and is it not an inestimable blessing to all 
who wish to be one with God, that they have given to them 
the promise which we have been considering now ? Oh, 
that we so continually fixed our minds upon our Father's 
face, that we so daily gazed upon His looks, and that we 
were filled, yea, so fully, with His love, that we needed 
neither bit nor bridle, neither goad nor rod, nothing but 
a look, nothing but the fulfilment of the promise. " I will 
guide thee with mine eye." 

May God give to all who read these lines, that delicate 
organization of heart, by which they shall have intuitive 
understanding of His look, and mind, and will." Oh may 
He separate us more and more from the grossness of mind, 
which requires the bridle or the goad ; oh may He refine 
us by the mysterious processes of His unearthly love ; 
then, in the midst of all perplexity, we shall not be con- 
fused ; in the midst of all failure we shall not be cast down ; 
but calmly and peacefully shall we pass onward to our rest, 

14* 



322 ACTION. 

as safe in the darkness as in the light, by the precipice as 
in the plain, in the crowd as when alone ; each child of 
God a traveller through a strange land to his own bright 
home, wayfaring, it is true, yet wayfaring in the security 
of a promise from above, hearing at every hard pass of his 
onward path, the promise we have here, a promise from the 
eternal God Himself, " I will guide thee with mine eye." 

Thus, then, the people of the Lord desire teaching, and 
that from Him, preparatory to action. They want to know 
God's will, in order that they may do it, " Teach me Thy 
way, Lord, I will walk in Thy truth. 7 ' 

Honesty of mind is a characteristic of every man really 
born again of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit-taught man is 
led to say, without any reserve or limitation, "I will walk." 
There are many who are prepared to go so far, but no fur- 
ther. They will carry out God's teaching, provided it does 
not make too great demands upon them. Perhaps such 
persons are not themselves conscious of the state of mind in 
which they are. They think that they are prepared for 
everything ; and so they are " for everything they know ;" 
but what if God set before them something much harder 
than anything that had ever entered even into their imagina- 
tion ? We have such a case as this brought before us in 
Matthew xix, 16. A young man comes to Jesus and says, 
" Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may 
have eternal life ?" Jesus puts forth the moral law, as a 
simple answer to his question, for no doubt if he kept that, 
without a single flaw, he could be saved by it ; "if he did," 
but who ever did ? who ever could, save Jesus ? and then 
proceeding yet further, He says to him, "if thou wilt be 
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, 
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and fol- 



ACTION. 323 

low Me. But when the young man heard that saying, he 
went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions."' 

Here was indeed a hard trial, an opening up of a path 
far more difficult than had ever entered into this young 
man's mind : and the hard trial discovers limitations, and 
reservations, which otherwise might never have heen per- 
ceived. Would a like trial discover like imperfections in 
ourselves ? 

If indeed we know ourselves, we shall almost tremble at 
this thought ; we shall feel the awful solemnity of saying 
such words as these, " Teach me Thy way, Lord, I will 
walk in Thy truth ;" and yet we shall not dare to hold 
back from making them our own. 

How can we be true-hearted, and yet hold back ! What 
then shall we do ? Let us prepare to pray the Psalmist's 
words, from the bottom of our hearts ; let us also prepare 
to make his determination, in deep reality of soul. True ! 
there is something awful in this : but if we know our weak- 
ness, and simply rely upon Divine strength, we shall be 
carried through ; God Himself will undergird us for the 
storm-tossed waters, through which we may be called upon 
to sail ; by him shall we be shod for the rough road on 
which we may be called upon to tread : and we shall be 
enabled to carry out, as well as make the determination of 
the Psalmist, which is before us now. Who can tell whither 
such a walk will lead him upon earth ; whither, when he has 
done with earth for ever ? 




II. 
Mt "1 Witt" «rt l*fttti»*tt itt ^rtimt. 

Psalm cxix, 32. "J ^f^Z^ 7*zm ^e way 0/ 27w/ commandments, when 
Thou shalt enlarge my heart" 

)HE great Physician knows at once where to look 
for the cause, when He sees anything amiss in the 
outward life of His people. He well knows that 
all spiritual disease is heart disease, and it is heart 
remedies that He must apply. At one time, our Physician 
sees symptoms which are violent in their nature ; at another, 
He sees symptoms of languor and debility ; but He knows 
that both come from the heart ; and so, it is upon the 
heart that He operates, when He is about to perform a 
cure. 

The strong action of the heart in all holy things comes 
from the blessed operation of the Spirit upon it ; then only 
can w T e run the way of God's commandments, when He has 
enlarged our heart. 

Heartiness in Action is the subject to which the 
reader's attention is here directed, and it is one of con- 
siderable importance. 

There are many believers, who for want of enlargement 
of heart are occupying a poor position in the church of 
God. They are trusting to Jesus for life eternal, and He 
will doubtless not disappoint them ; He will be true to His 



ACTION. 325 

word, ''that he that believeth shall be saved:'- but they 
are still, alas ! to a deplorable degree, shut up in self; 
they have contracted hearts : still do they take narrow 
views of God's claims, and their own privileges, and the 
position in which they are set in the world : and however 
much they might be said to stand, or sit. or walk in the 
way of God's commandments, they cannot be said to "run" 
in it. Running is a strong and healthy action of the body : 
it requires energy, it is an exercise that needs a sound 
heart : none can run in the way of God's commandments, 
except in strength and vigor imparted by Him. The run- 
ning Christians are comparatively few : walking and sitting 
Christians are comparatively common : but the running 
Christian is so uncommon, as often to be thought almost 
mad. 

Let us, for the sake of order, classify our observations 
on this subject, under the following heads : — 
I. What Heartiness is. 
II. What Heartiness does. 

III. Whence Heartiness comes. 

The Heartiness spoken of here under the term •'■' enlarge- 
ment of the heart." is cheerfulness in doing God's will — 
love for that will — a drawing out of the affections towards 
it — an interest in it : all this it is. and a great deal more. 
which it is not easy to describe or define. 

A good deal may be done by a man in the way of keep- 
ing God's commandments, especially His prohibitive ones, 
without his possessing anything worthy of being called 
enlargement of heart. A man need not have an enlarged 
heart, to enable him to keep his hands from picking and 
stealing, and his tongue from evil speaking, lying and slan- 
dering : nor to enable him to perform any specified acts of 



326 ACTION. 

duty which come before him with all the force and authority 
of law ; his affections have nothing to say to this obedience ; 
he obeys because he thinks he ought to obey ; he might be 
fitly described, as keeping within the bound of a command- 
ment (so far as man can do), but not as running in the 
way of it. 

We are very ready to admit that true religion has to do 
with man's judgment, and his conscience ; would that it 
were readily and practically admitted, that it has to do with 
the affections also. Alas ! how much coldness may there 
be in a man, whose judgment is sound upon the question 
of the excellence of God's commandments. Such an one 
may approve them, may see that they are preeminently 
suited for the governance of man, may believe that he will 
best consult his happiness by observing thenr and that he 
can never violate them without entailing upon himself both 
misery and loss ; he may be a philosopher in holy things, 
and yet have no heartiness for God's commandments, have 
no insight into their principles, which have their foundation 
in the very nature of God. Our judgment may be well 
informed, and we may act upon it in all we do, and all we 
abstain from, as regards the commandments of God ; but let 
us be assured, that our judgment never can make us hearty, 
in running the way of His commandments. 

Nor can our conscience. Conscience can make us do 
things because we ought to do them, and leave them undone 
because we ought not to do them, but it cannot make us 
hearty in our obedience. It is highly possible to perform 
a duty, and in a certain sense to do it well, and yet not to 
have our heart in it at all. 

Where there is enlargement of the heart by God, thefe is 
an outgoing beyond all the limits which fallen selfishness 



ACTION. 327 

assigns. The heart contracted at the fall ; it shrank when 
sin entered into it ; it became unequal to containing great 
and generous thoughts ; it became a bondagecl heart. True ! 
the responsibilities of duty could not be escaped, nor could 
the directions of conscience, but the affections are voluntary, 
and the fallen heart drew in its affections from God ; it felt 
that it had the power of withholding them from Him and 
His commandments, and it rejoiced to shew its enmity, in 
withholding its sympathy, where it could not withhold its 
obedience. There is sin, there is the development of fallen 
nature at the root of all want of Heartiness in action for 
God. What an aspect then, will many of the performances 
of duty wear in the day when all things are revealed in 
their real light ; how will it be found, that man had with- 
held from them all he had to give, i. e n his heart. There 
is no thank to him for not withholding the assent of his con- 
science, and the opinion of his judgment ; what he had to 
give is wanting ; it was the heart that Christ wanted, what 
good are those works in which it is not found ? 

Now, as we have already said, where the heart is operated 
on by the Spirit, and all its natural evil overruled, it has 
outgoings which are entirely beyond the limits that fallen 
selfishness assigns. Love is inwrought with it, the union 
of sentiment, the identity of interest which love inspires, 
pervade it, in all belonging to God, for it has received these 
from God ; the heart becomes unbondaged from mere rules, 
or perhaps, to speak more correctly, it rises above them, and 
it feeta — not merely it knows, but it feels — so much of the 
beauty of God's commandments, that it delights to run in 
them ; it loves to be hearty in them ; its interests, its affec- 
tions are in them. 

It is very possible that both writer and reader feel 



328 ACTION. 

ashamed, and ready to judge themselves when they look at 
much past, or perhaps present service in this light. How 
often have we done just as much as we felt ourselves 
obliged to do, and no more ; how often have we done a good 
deal, and yet had no heart for doing, or in doing it ? Much 
of our work has been a labor to us, and some of God's com- 
mandments have been grievous to us, for want of this 
heartiness which would have made all joyous and pleasant ; 
let us seek, dear reader, to have our hearts opened out to 
God- — to have them enlarged to take in great thoughts 
about Him, and His work — to have them ennobled to make 
great plans and efforts for Him — to have them capable of 
energy, even the energy of love, in all they do for Him. 
It makes all the difference whether we run, or walk, in the 
way of God's commandments. The word " walk," is used 
to denote the habitual obedience of divine life ; but the 
word to " run," signifies its energy : " I will run the way 
of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart." 

Let us now see what Heartiness does. 

Heartiness in action has a good effect on others. Even 
in ordinary society we see how much effect one gloomy, 
unwilling, or desponding nature can have on others. Even 
without any active opposition, such an one is able to damp 
the energies, or enjoyments, of those around : and on the 
other hand, we see how one who is hearty, and joyous, and 
goes about whatever is to be done with a will, is able to 
infuse spirit into those, who otherwise would have dragged 
heavily through their work. The presence of a hearty 
Christian seems to infuse oxygen into the very atmosphere 
around ; there is something effervescing, and sparkling in 
such an one, which drives away surrounding heaviness and 



ACTION. 329 

gloom ; and often those, with whom such an one comes into 
contact, find out for the first time, from what another is 
doing, what they themselves can do. 

Try, dear reader, to be a living energy, and not a dead 
weight in the spiritual world ; to be a sunbeam, and not a 
murky cloud ; to be an electric spark kindling fire in 
others' hearts, and not a wet blanket putting out and 
smothering the smoking flax. There are such things as 
sympathy and influence in man's contact with his fellow 
man : what influence have we exercised : what sympathy 
have we drawn others into with ourselves: what have we 
been to them in the congregation of which we are mutual 
members — in the family — in any enterprize in which they 
and we were associated — in fact, in all the relationships 
and events of life, in which we came in contact with each 
other? We have, perhaps, often been hinderers and im- 
peders, and our want of heartiness has damped the ardor 
of others. On the other hand, if we have been really alive 
in the cause of the Lord, have we not helped on others; 
have not they commenced to act when they saw us in 
action ; have not they found out, that they also could do 
good, and that it was pleasant to do good, when they were 
led on to try, by the kindling effect of our life in action for 
God? 

This Heartiness in Action embraces a large circle. 
The circle in which a man hearty for God moves, and acts, 
is one ever widening and increasing ; a man that runs in 
the way of God's commandments does not keep running 
round and round, always within the same circumference, 
but in one that increases continually. It may be that when 
the spiritual power was small, the sphere of action was 
small also, but as the spiritual power increases, so does the 



330 ACTION. 

sphere also. This must be so ; for Heartiness in the divine 
life is incompressible, and it must find a vent, it must find 
a sphere in which to act. This is true even under the most 
untoward circumstances. Take the case of a Christian, 
strong and vigorous in spiritual life, but reduced so low in the 
body that he cannot leave his bed ; his means are small, his 
contact with his fellow creatures is limited ; he surely has 
no circle in which his heart can throb with living energies, 
each pulsation being followed by some positive result ; — so 
we should think — but let us remember that the body does 
not chain the mind, and that that sick man's interests and 
prayers may pervade a circle which embraces every church 
of God, and every believer upon earth ! What wider sphere 
of action can any man desire than this ? And this is open 
to the bed-ridden and the maimed ; by prayer the lever can 
be moved which moves the world, and the sick man can 
pray, and if he be hearty in the action, he can move, and 
act, in a circle too large for any bodily energy to pervade. 
It is true, we have taken an extreme case : but what, if 
one thus circumstanced be proved to have exercised more 
real spiritual power than many of us whose every faculty is 
perfect, whose bodily energies are unimpaired ? 

Let the reader search himself as to how large a circle 
he is pervading — as to whether he be pervading any circle 
at all. The merchant who is hearty in his desires for 
wealth, and in his action in the mercantile world, pervades 
a large circle ; he has to do w T ith persons and things almost 
at the ends of the earth ; his energies have driven him out 
into this great circumference of action ; and whither, dear 
reader, have your energies, your heartiness, driven you 
forth ? Have you had living impulses, which forbade you 
to be centered, to tarry in self? 



ACTION. 831 

Remember that where the heart is strong in its action, 
it drives the blood to the extremities. If the blood be not 
well driven into the limbs, they are weak in action, and un- 
less it be driven to the extremities, the very parts which 
have to act grow cold. Our most distant point in action, 
our most remote means of operating therein, should be 
under the influence of the strong vitality of the heart. 
Ours is a centralized system, and the centre is the heart ; 
and one reason why interest so often flags in the outer 
verge of our circle, and why our action there is weak, is, 
because we have not strength to drive out our energies and 
sympathies beyond those inner circles which are closest to 
our heart. For example, here is a man who can act within 
the circle of his own family, but he is not hearty enough to 
fill a circle which would embrace in its action for God, 
neighbors and friends ; here is another who can not only act 
in his own family, but also amongst neighbors and friends, 
but he cannot go forth to those who are without, and who 
are unconnected with him by any visible responsibility or 
ties. Nothing but an enlargement of the heart by the Holy 
Spirit will send him forth ; and make him to understand 
the meaning of the apostle's words, -'Look not every man 
on his own things, but every man also on the things of 
others:" and make him copy the example of the One of 
whom it is written, " But God commendeth His love toward 
us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 

Let us also notice that this Heartiness honors our pro- 
fession. We cannot but perceive how much the religion 
of Christ suffers in the world from the want of Heartiness 
in action shewn by its professors. One half the zeal 
shewn by the heathen in their false religion, would soon 
startle the world, if it were shewn in the disciples of 



332 . ACTION. 

Christ ; but it is not shewn ; and it is impossible to read of 
the liberality of the heathen to their false gods, and their 
self-sacrifices, and pains, without asking " Where amongst 
any of the churches shall we find in the mass of their mem- 
bers, a heartiness of action similar to this?"^ One would 
think, that "rest," not "action," was the rule and privi- 
lege of a Christian's life ; but it is neither the one nor the 
other; his privilege is rest for his soul; his rule must be 
action for the energies — rest in justification in Christ's 
blood — action in sanctification of the Holy Ghost. The 
religion of Christ suffers more harm from the inaction of 
its professors, than from the action of its enemies ; and be 
it observed, it suffers not only from their inaction, from 
their not doing anything, but also very often from the way 
in which they do that to which they put their hand. The 
half-heartedness of God's people in action goes far towards 
persuading the people of the world that their religion is no 
better than a form ; they are keen observers, not only of 
what we do, but of how we do it, and they will often judge 

* The Hindoos when gathering in their harvest, before it is removed 
from the threshing floor, take out the portion for their god. However 
poor, or however small their crops may be, their god's portion is given 
first. 

The Eev. J. J. "Weitbrecht says, in his " Protestant Missions in Bengal, 
illustrated," "My readers will be surprised to hear how much wealthy 
natives spend upon their idols. I once visited the Rajah of Burdwan, 
and found him sitting in his treasury. Fifty bags of money, containing 
1000 rupees (£100) in each, were placed before him. 'What,' said I, 
1 are you doing with all this money V He replied, ; It is for my gods.' 
' How do you mean that ?' I rejoined. ' One part is sent to Benares, 
where I have two fine temples on the river side, and many priests who 
pray for me ; another part goes to Juggernaut ; and a third to Graya.' 
And thus one native is spending £25,000 annually from his princely in- 
come upon idle Brahmins." 



action. 333 

of Christ's religion, not by its abstract principles, but by 
the way in which we carry them out. 

Let us take the one instance of Giving; "Giving" is 
one form of action for God ; and what is the aspect which 
in this particular many of the Lord's people present to the 
world? Where is their heartiness in it? Can they say 
that their profession, or their position in the church of 
God is honored by the way in which they do it ? In how 
many instances is this only the giving of form, and not the 
giving of decided action ? u Honor the Lord with thy sub- 
stance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase,*' is 
surely as much binding upon the Christian as the Jew ; let 
us be assured, that a great sympathetic nerve runs between 
the heart and the pocket ; a large heart and a large hand 
befit each other. Why should £1 Is. be the stereotyped 
form of expressing the state of a Christian's heart? 

There are some, however, who while reading this, may 
sigh, and say, " Such a sum would be beyond my reach to 
give." Let such remember that there are many who are 
steeped in poverty, who yet are rich indeed in action, 
according to their opportunity, and who are accepted 
" according to what they have, and not according to what 
they have not." How much do we learn from the case of 
the poor widow, and her two mites ! we may be permitted 
to digress for a moment to consider it. 

Look at the position of this widow in life, and in the 
temple ; neither in life, nor in the temple, was she anybody 
in the world's estimation. She was so very poor, that when 
she threw in the two mites, our Lord describes her a,s having 
cast in " all that she had, even all her living." No doubt 
she fared hard in worldly sustenance ; her lodging was the 
meanest, her food the scantiest, her raiment the coarsest, 



334 ACTION. 

and she had all the accompaniments of poverty, bitterness, 
and reproach, and neglect, and want. And what she was 
in the outer world, that also, as far as man was concerned, 
was she in the temple of the Lord. We can imagine how 
the servants of the man clothed with purple and fine linen 
thrust her out of the way ; how the Pharisee, with his 
broad fringed garment, swept by her in all the pomp and 
circumstance of religious state ; how the wives and daughters 
of the rich gathered in their ample robes, lest they should 
be soiled by contact with such beggarly attire ; no one 
thought it worth his while to notice her, unless it were to 
despise ; and yet she, and she alone, receives the com- 
mendation of the Lord. 

Now what is this widow, as she appears in this scene, 
but a very type or picture of the general condition of the 
true church of God ? That church is for the most part 
hidden, as regards the attainment in the world's eye of any 
position, either in temporal or spiritual things. There are 
but few of the Lord's true people who make much figure 
in the world : and the general opinion entertained of them 
is very mean and low. There is nothing more common 
than to find men dwelling upon the miserable poverty of 
the saints, and thinking them absolutely poor. But poor 
as they doubtless are, they are the possessors of title deeds 
of exceeding wealth. This poor widow had no doubt 
engraven upon her heart the choice promises of God, which 
made over heavenly estates to such as made over their 
hearts to Him. And I would that the children of the king- 
dom dwelt more upon the actual possessions which are to 
be theirs ! They are too dim and shadowy, too misty and 
undefined in their hopes ; they are to have what is sub- 
stantial, what is actual, and real, and in their depths of 



a c t i o x . 335 

earthly poverty they ought to think of this. A realization 
of the substantial nature of this future property will make 
them feel the value of the position which now they hold, as 
children of God — the position, to which this property is 
attached ; though all that appear on earth be the two mites, 
in heaven there is a possession for each saint, which the 
offer of even the universe itself could not buy. In spiritual 
things also the condition of the saint is hidden from the 
eyes of men. It appears that none save Christ valued this 
poor widow's offering and piety at their real worth, because 
Jesus alone could search her heart and try her reins. To 
outward eye, the Scribes and Pharisees were far more holy 
than she ; but to that eye which seeth not as man seeth, 
she was immeasurably above them all. We need not be 
surprised at this, and the children of God will do well to 
remember, that the world will not always let them hold 
that position, even though it be in spiritual things, which 
they have a right to claim. He, who in humble earnestness 
belongs to God, must make up his mind to be very often 
despised, even by apparently religious people, and be con- 
tent to hold his rank in the estimation of Christ alone. No 
doubt to many who are truly the children of God, this 
seems very hard : if they have no reputation in the world, 
the least they may have is some position in the church ; 
but like the widow in the text, they are known to but One, 
and that One is God, who approves their deeds, and treas- 
ures up their names against His own great day. 

Let us contemplate tbis widow as under the observation 
of God. We are told that in the crowd of worshippers, 
there were rich men who offered much, but not one word of 
commendation do we find vouchsafed to them. And this 
was not because their good deeds were done without having 



336 ACTION. 

been seen by God— far from it; He noted the amount of 
every gift, and in His own mind compared it with the 
circumstances under which He knew each one to be placed; 
and forming His estimate upon these grounds, the widow 
alone was praised. The gold and silver of the rich had no 
attractions for God; His admiration was rivetted on the 
widow's mites alone, for they only came from a heart, 
which poured itself out unreservedly to God. And let this 
teach us, now that when we think we are unobserved, we 
are nevertheless doing all under the immediate eye of God. 
Oh ! we forget too much, that we are the servants of One, 
who is ever looking at us, and ever taking note of what we 
think, and speak, and do. Content to be amongst the crowd, 
we think ourselves then best off, when no special notice is 
taken of us at all ; but it ought not to be thus ; it should be 
the greatest sorrow and disappointment, if God did not 
vouchsafe to fix a special look on us ; we should be able to 
say M Look, Lord, and see if this be done according to Thy 
will." In all our givings, however the amount be hidden 
from the eyes of man, we should so perform these acts that 
we do not desire them to be hidden from the eyes of God ; 
we should be able to open our hand before the One, to 
whom we are about to offer, and say, " Look, Lord, this is 
for Thee — this is not the mere cold offering of duty, but it 
is that of love ; Thou knowest my circumstances, and know- 
ing them, with this I trust that Thou wilt be pleased." 
The reason why we do so little, and that so badly, is, that 
we are ever sinking our individuality in the crowd : ever 
forgetting, that we stand each one su° it were alone before his 
God. So long as we go on thus, we shall never do well ; and 
even though, if we be rich, we cast in much, we shall never 
attain to the testimony which was the portion of the widow. 



ACTION. 337 

And if it be the shame and loss of many, that Christ 
looks upon them as they perhaps cast in much, and bestows 
no word of commendation upon their gift, is it not the 
blessing and the gain of others, that His eye is upon them, 
though they can give but very little ; and that little wins 
from Him words of approval and of praise ? He who is like 
this poor widow will delight in the thought, that his Lord 
knows all; he will say, "Thou knowest all things. Thou 
knowest that I love Thee ;" " Thou knowest that this is the 
offering of love ;" and the heart shall have its own sensations 
of joy, as it feels that God has seen, and that God has been 
well pleased. 

Thus Jesus notes the earnestness of all earnest-minded 
men, and shall we believe, that with that notice, the whole 
matter ends ? Not so ! He passes an opinion upon the 
conduct of such as have given evidence that their hearts are 
His, and that opinion is recorded in the books of life and 
death ; " She hath done what she could," found an en- 
trance not only into the gospels of the Evangelists, but also 
into the judgment books of heaven. Christ's observations 
are all chronicled against the day of trial, when He, as the 
One to whom all judgment is committed, shall reward every 
man '-according to his deeds." And let this encourage 
such of you as are earnestly endeavoring to do all you can 
for Him. No effort is lost : if there be two mites in your 
hand God knows it ; perhaps He says, " Why are there two 
mites there ? dull formality required but one ; surely inas- 
much as there are two, this second comes from love." And 
in the great day, when the true-hearted people of the Lord 
shall be set in glory on His right hand, how blessed will it 
be, to find ourselves there, as men long since known and 
observed by Him ; to feel with humble pleasure that we are 

15 



338 ACTION. 

no strangers to Him, for that He often watched our deeds of 
love ; to think that there are hard solid facts which are 
valuable as proofs ; and after all do not facts speak an hun- 
dred fold more than words ? Deeds of love are good for 
nothing in the way of procuring salvation, but they are very 
precious as tokens that love was true. Act then, on all 
occasions as though you wished Jesus to look on. Remem- 
ber whenever you approach the treasury, that Jesus is 
in the temple, and opposite you, as you make your offering 
to the Lord ; so give, so do, as that you shall be able to say, 
" I am thankful that Jesus saw !" 

We are furnished in Holy Scripture with many examples 
of " Heartiness in Action.' 7 Jesus is the great example 
in whom we find all excellence, and He was hearty indeed, 
in running the way of God's commandments ; His ear was 
opened, His heart was enlarged for service. What were 
His words ? "I delight to do Thy will, my God ; yea, 
Thy law is w r ithin my heart/'^ " Not my will but thine 
be done." f See how hearty Jesus was in His journeyings, 
in His preachings, in all words and errands of mercy ; how 
earnest were His exhortations, how ready were His deeds. 
He toiled from morning to night ; and oftentimes He prayed 
from night to morning; and when His short life was ended, 
so many were His wondrous deeds, that the Apostle John 
winds up his gospel with saying, " And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be 
written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could 
not contain the books that should be written. "J 

Such was Jesus on earth ; and it is a blessed thought for 
His people that such also is He now in the presence of God. 
He carried all His excellencies with Him, when He ascended 

* Psalm xl, 8. f Luke xxii, 42. \ John xxi, 25. 



ACTION. 339 

up on high ; and amongst them His " Heartiness in Action." 
Yes ! it is with an earnest heart that He makes intercession 
for His people, that He loves them, that He interferes and 
acts for them ; in a word, that He does everything for them ; 
He is full of life on behalf of His people ; oftentimes when 
we are only languid for ourselves, He is hearty for us, and 
we receive according to His earnestness, and not according; 
to our own. This is a blessed truth, and as we realize it, 
may it be given to us more unreservedly and devotedly to 
give our heart to Him, whose service is so hearty for us ! 

Or, let us take Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles : 
he was hearty for his Lord ; he was " in labors more abundant, 
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths 
oft;" of the Jews five times received he forty stripes save 
one ; thrice was he beaten with rods, once was he stoned ; 
thrice he suffered shipwreck ; a night and a day he was in the 
deep ; he was in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in 
perils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by 
the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, 
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in weari- 
ness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, 
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness ; in addition to which 
there came upon him daily the care of all the churches.^ 
He counted not his life dear unto himself so that he might 
finish his course with joy, and ministry which he had re- 
ceived of the Lord Jesus. f He gloried in tribulations. J 
" What mean ye," said he to the disciples at Caesarea,, 
"to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to 
be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of 
the Lord Jesus. "$ Paul was a living example of the pre- 
cepts which he gave, " fervent in Spirit, serving the 

* 2 Cor. xi, 28. % f Acts xx, 24. % Romans v, 3. § Acts xxi, 13. 



340 ACTION. 

Lord."* u And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the 
Lord, and not unto men."f And let us remember that 
Paul was not called to " Heartiness in Action" one whit 
more than we are ! The same Christ who appeared to him, 
and gave him life in the midst of his career of death, ap- 
pears to our souls, and gives us life also ; the same grace 
is vouchsafed to both, if so be that we have received the 
Lord at all. Instead then of thinking, that because Paul 
was an Apostle, more was required from him than there is 
from us ; or that he was possessed of any extraordinary 
energies, which are above the ordinary lot of man, let us 
see in him a man with an enlarged heart, and in bis life, 
with all its labors, nothing more than what we ourselves are 
called upon to exhibit in our own spheres — " Enlargement 
of heart in action." Our sphere may not be that of an 
Apostle, but our heart may he like his ; and we may fill 
our sphere as acceptably as he filled his ; it is not at 
spheres, but at hearts that God will look ; and however 
small the circle in which we move, if only we be hearty in 
it for the Lord, ours also may be the Apostle's words in our 
departing hour; "I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and 
not to me only but unto all them also that love His ap- 
pearing. "J 

See how large-hearted the Macedonians were, " their 
deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 
For to their power, (says the Apostle,) I bear record, yea, 
and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves."^ 
Look at the Israelites, how they offered for their tabernacle ; 

* Romans xii, 11. f Co1 - % 23 - X 2 Tim - iv > ^ 8 - § 2 Cor - viii > 2 > 3 - 



ACTION. 341 

" they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and 
every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought 
the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation, and for all His service, and for the holy gar- 
ments. And they came, both men and women, as many as 
were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and ear-rings, 
and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold : and every man 
that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord."* 
With them it was not how little but how much they could 
give. "And they brought yet unto him (Moses) free 
offerings every morning."f At last ^ { the wise men, that 
wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man 
from his work which they made ; and they spake unto 
Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough 
for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to 
make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused 
it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let 
neither man nor woman make anymore work for the offering 
of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bring- 
ing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work 
to make it, and too much. "J David was large-hearted, 
and would have built a house for God : and when he was 
directed not to carry out his intention, because he had shed 
blood, he shewed that he had enlargement of heart toward 
God, by the preparation which he made for the accom- 
plishment of his design by his son : he prepared iron in 
abundance, and brass in abundance without weight ; also 
in his trouble he prepared for the house of the Lord an 
hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand 
talents of silver.^ The heartiness of the king made him 

* Exodus xxxv, 21, 22. f Exodus xxxvi, 3. 

\ Yerses 4-8. § 1 Chronicles xxii 



} 



342 ACTION. 

do what he could, as he could not do what he would. Let 
us look on a little farther, and we find this heartiness again 
in Nehemiah, and those who were joined with him in the 
work of the Lord. Each man's work is chronicled in chap- 
ter iii. u So built we the wall," (said he in chapter iv.) 
" And all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, 
for the people had a mind to work /" How active, how 
energetic they were, we see from chapter iii, 12. " And 
next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the 
ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters" 
Here was Heartiness in Action ; the heart constrained the 
hand, and rough as the work was for women to engage in, 
it was willingly undertaken. Of you, dear reader, may it 
be also said, that you had "a mind to work." As every 
man is to give as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly 
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver, so is every 
man to work as he is disposed in his heart, for God loveth 
a hearty worker. The work of each of the restorers of 
Jerusalem is chronicled in Nehemiah ; there is another book 
in which is chronicled the work of each of us — our work — ■ 
its motives — its intensity — not only the fact that we worked, 
but also why and how ! 

The readiness of the daughters of Shallum is recorded, 
so also is the backwardness of the nobles of the Tekoites ; 
" but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their 
Lord." No position excuses man from work for the Lord 
in the sphere appointed to him ; a record of shortcoming as 
well as of diligence is kept ; many a feeble woman will 
hereafter be honored for her rough work for God, when the 
nobles are reprobated, who put not their necks to the work 
of their Lord. 

Let us now turn to the very important and practical 



ACTION. 343 

enquiry, Whence does this Heartiness come ? Like every 
other good and perfect gift, it comes from the Father of 
lights, " with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turn- 
ing:" it is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost. The Lord's 
people are " made willing in the day of His power."* " It 
is God that worketh in them, both to will and to do of His 
good pleasure."! The Spirit of God in man's sanctifica- 
tion comes in contact not only with the heart as warped, 
but with it as contracted also ; He finds in it not only a 
bias towards what is evil, but an inaptitude to what is 
good : its only dealings with holy things will be in the way 
of duty ; it knows nothing of the law of love. The Spirit 
of God creates love, and in so doing opens out the heart, 
and quickens its pulsations, and puts its actions under a 
new and impulsive law ; the heart will do, under the im- 
pulsive law of love, what it could not be induced to do 
by any other power. If you, then, feel the backwardness 
of your natural heart ; if you have tried, and tried in vain, 
to warm it up to energy and power, and what we commonly 
call "heartiness" in the cause of God; and if you have 
found yourself, however active in duty, still wanting in 
heart, I beseech you to apply to the Holy Spirit to supply 
your need. In vain will you turn to any other source ; in 
vain will you devise methods or expedients of your own: 
the living principle will be wanting, and therewith life 
itself. Heartiness must be inwrought, or we shall never be 
able to abound in the work of the Lord ; w T e may commence 
enterprises with zeal, fascinated by their novelty ; or we may 
continue in them, for in various ways they may suit our 
natural taste; but heartiness, embracing all service, and 
continuing in all service ; must be the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

* Psalm ex, 3. f Phil, ii, 13. 



344 action. 

In working within us this spiritual power, the Spirit may 
have to contend with our natural temperament ; to over- 
come sloth, timidity, indifference, and much of a similar 
kind ; but if we yield ourselves to Him He will not allow 
us to be like the Laodicean church, "neither cold nor hot," 
and fit only to be " spued out of the mouth. " Rev. iii, 16. 
He will prevent our hiding our talent in a napkin ; He will 
make us the good ground bringing forth fruit abundantly, 
an hundred and a thousand fold ; and to us shall be spoken 
those most blessed words : "Well done, good and faithful 
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord !" The 
utmost heartiness in service is compatible with the closest 
walk with God ; and we need not fear our summons coming 
when engaged in action for Him. A lady once asked Mr. 
Wesley, " Supposing that you knew you were to die at 
twelve o'clock to-morrow night, how would you spend the 
intervening time?" "How, madam?" he replied, " why 
just as I intend to spend it now. I should preach this 
evening at Gloucester, and again at five to-morrow morn- 
ing; after that I should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in 
the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I 
should then repair to friend Martin's house, who expects 
to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as usual, 
retire to my room at ten o'clock, commend myself to my 
heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory." 
Blessed exchange ! the heartiness of service on earth, for 
the heartiness of service in glory ! 




%2fy 



m. 

WUt "i Will" oi §tttvmimtim in %tii<m. 

PSAL^r lxxi, 16. " Iwia go in the strength of the Lord God." 

.EARTINESS will be sure to bring out the weak- 
ness of the individual ; the enlarged heart will 
not only purpose, but will actually make us em- 
bark in enterprises for God, which will severely 
try the other parts of our spiritual constitution. We may 
have the heart for such and such a thing, whether it be a 
sacrifice or an action ; but have we the faith, the energy, 
the perseverance, and such other Christian graces as are 
necessary to carry us through ? Better for us to be hearty, 
though we be weak, than to be strong, and indifferent 
withal. 

When a man's heart is enlarged for action for God, to 
run the way of His commandments, his heartiness will be 
tried. There will come temptations to desist ; Satan will 
endeavor to neutralize that heartiness by every means in 
his power. He will represent to us our own weakness and 
the enemy's strength, just as he did to David, by the mouth 
of Saul, when he was about to attack the Philistine, "Thou 
art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him, 
for thou are but a youth, and he a man of war from his 
youth."* Peter was hearty in his desire to go to Christ, 

* 1 Sain, xvii, 33. 
15* 



346 ACTION. 

but when the waves were looked at they brought out the 
smallness of his faith. He was hearty also when he said, 
" Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet 
will I never be offended ; though I should die with Thee, 
yet will I not deny Thee."^ In the first of these cases 
there was no failure, in the second there was ; although, in 
all probability, the heartiness in Peter's case was as much as 
that in David's, if not more. Let us seek for grace to have 
our powers equal to our heartiness for action, then we shall 
be able to produce great results. And further, let us never 
draw back because we discover weakness in ourselves ; our 
duty is to go forward in the name of the Lord;" the remedy 
for our weakness is to be found in the verse which is under 
consideration now, u I will go in the strength of the Lord 
God." 

We find in Holy Scripture many examples of Deter- 
mination in action. Moses was pre-eminently called to 
action for God, and the position in which he was placed 
required great determination ; he had to face a monarch 
exasperated by repeated chastisements which had nearly 
ruined his kingdom ; he had, humanly speaking, every 
reason to be willing to make a compromise, and draw off 
his people from the land of Egypt ; but he was determined 
in the work of the Lord, and would hear of nothing of the 
kind. " And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go 
ye and serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds 
be stayed, let your little ones also go with you;" but Moses 
would not yield, even in the matter of the meanest animal 
belonging to an Israelite, " Our cattle also shall go with 
us, there shall not an hoof be left behind."f David, as 
we have already seen, was called to decided action for God, 

* Matt, xxvi, 33, 35. -j- Exodus x, 24, 26. 



ACTION. 347 

and he did not flinch, even though his brethren taunted 
him, and Saul would have discouraged him, and Goliah 
did all he could to affright him.^ Elijah was pre-eminently 
called to action for God, and although he knew that Ahab 
sought his life, he sends a message to him by Obadiah, 
" Behold Elijah is here. As the Lord of hosts liveth, 
before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him 
to-day !"f His attitude on Carmel was one of determined 
action. "And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets 
of Baal, let not one of them escape ; and they took them ; 
and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and 
slew them there.'" It was necessary for Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abednego, to take up a decided position, and they 
did so ; they said, " Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful 
to answer thee in this matter ; if it be so, our God whom 
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery fur- 
nace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, king. 
But if not, be it known unto thee, king, that we will 
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which 
thou has set up."| u When Daniel knew that the writing 
was signed, he went into his house, and his window being 
open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon 
his knees three times a day, and gave thanks before his 
God, as he did aforetime.' '§ Nehemiah said, " Should 
such a man as I flee ? and who is there that, being as I am, 
would go into the temple to save his life ? I will not go 
in."* || When Peter and John were brought before the 
High Priest and his kindred they shewed their Determination 
in Action. " And they called them, and commanded them 
not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But 

* 1 Sam. xvii. f 1 Kings xviii. % Daniel iii, 16-18. 

§ Daniel vi, 10. [ Neh. yi, 11. 



348 ACTION. 

Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it 
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than 
unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things 
which we have seen and heard. "^ When Paul stood before 
Nero, at his first answer no man stood with him, but all 
men forsook him ; notwithstanding the Lord stood with 
him, and he was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.f 
But of all the examples of holy " Determination in Action, r 
the brightest is furnished by our blessed Lord Himself ; 
His life was determined action from beginning to end. We 
read of Him, that " He steadfastly set his face to go to 
Jerusalem," although He knew that there he was to meet 
His death ; all His life, from the day that He entered upon 
His public ministry, was a progress to Jerusalem ; it was a 
fulfilment of certain requirements which lay between Him 
and the cross, so that the cross could not be reached until 
they had been met. In meeting all these we can well be- 
lieve that the Lord Jesus had to exercise " Determination 
in Action/' that He had to keep His human flesh steadily 
to the point, from which as mere human flesh it would have 
doubtless shrunk ; in Gethsemane He is determined; even 
though flesh and blood be weak; He says, " 'Not my will 
but Thine be done,' and there appeared an angel unto Him 
from heaven strengthening Him." 

These then are a few of the Scripture examples of Deter- 
mination in Action ; let me now direct the reader's atten- 
tion to some particulars connected with this determination 
to do, or to go ; "I will go in the strength of the Lord 
God." 

He who is determined to do, or to go, in the service of 
God, will often have to be very determined with himself. 

£ 4pta iv, 18-20. f 2 Tim. iv, 16, 11. $ Luke xxii, 42, 43 ? 



ACTION. 849 

He will find many opponents of his will in the actings of 
his own flesh and blood ; he will find the law of the flesh 
struggling against the law of the mind ; he will have to put 
down Self before he can act. Self-ease, self-interest, self- 
indulgence, together -with a whole tribe of arguments, and 
opinions belonging to the flesh, must be dealt with, and 
that, with a stern and uncompromising hand. Few, save 
such as have had actual experience of this conflict, can have 
any idea of the force which a man has to exercise upon him- 
self; many, however, of the children of God know this, and 
they shall hereafter receive glory for these very victories 
which they won over themselves. No eye saw them, no 
ear listened to them, they were not sustained by the sympa- 
thy of masses engaged in a like conflict to their own, but 
God was looking, hearing, feeling for them, and His book 
of remembrance was open, and in it an account was entered 
of all this determined strife. The harmony of our whole 
being in thought and action for God, will form a part of the 
blessedness of heaven, but we must expect the want of har- 
mony to form a part of the strife and warfare of earth. 

It might be asked, however, "In what sort of things 
have God's people to put in force this determined c I will ' 
over themselves ? ,? Sometimes in very important ones, and 
sometimes in what would appear to common observation to 
be merely trifles. We sometimes require to be more deter- 
mined with ourselves about trifles, than more apparently 
important things. A victory gained in a conflict, where 
the point in question is a trifle, is often a victory which 
helps to determine character, and is thus of immense 
importance. We have many a time to put great constraint 
upon ourselves to keep silence, and put a bridle on our lips, 
when we are provoked to answer again ; we have to be 



850 ACTION. 

determined with ourselves when we want to show kindness 
to those, who for a long time have been recipients of our 
acts of kindness, giving us in return nothing but unkind- 
ness, and thanklessness, if not opposition and hate ; we have 
to be determined in carrying out rules of Christian life — 
things to be done— and things to be left undone — which are 
mixed up in the whirl of our daily calls, employments, and 
duties ; in many such things we have, by the help and 
teaching of the Spirit, to lay down as it were the law to 
ourselves, and to see that it is carried out. 

There are also many other striking points in which we 
have to exercise determination over ourselves. We may be 
called upon to take some part in the Lord's work, which 
can only be done at considera-ble sacrifice or cost ; we may 
hear the Lord plainly saying to us, " Take up that position, 
lift up that burden," and flesh and blood decline; then 
comes the need for pressure ; then we must be determined 
with self, and by God's blessing we shall prevail. Many a 
man has had to exercise this determination, before he could 
make up his mind to bring down upon himself the enmity or 
ridicule of some he respected, or loved ; before he could bring 
himself to undertake something, which could be done only 
at considerable cost ; it needed determination to carry him 
through, but he sought and received it from the Holy Ghost. 

Nor let us suppose that the bare fact of making a deter- 
mination will be sufficient to carry us through ; the deter- 
mination itself will be assailed. Let us be on our guard in 
this particular ; the first attempt of Satan will be to pre- 
vent our making up vour mind ; the next to prevent 
our good determination taking effect. Hence we must be 
on our guard against making excuses, and being ready 
continually to say that " circumstances are altered," and 









ACTION. 351 

that u we have been compelled by circumstances," and the 
like. In many cases, we can master circumstances, alas ! 
in how many do we let them master us ! " In the matters 
of God," said Luther, " I assume this title, c cedo nulli] 
' I yield to none ;' " happy should we be, if, in all spiritual 
determination, a like motto were ours. 

Determination in Action is then the duty of the Lord's 
people ; blessed be God that in it they have not to depend 
upon themselves, but are privileged to have a Realization 
of external power. " I will go in the strength of the Lord 
God" We may be determined, and yet wholly fail, owing 
to a want of God's presence with us. Thus was it with the 
Israelites, as we read in Numbers xiv ; they would go 
against their enemies in spite of the commandment of the 
Lord, " They rose up early in the morning, and gat them 
up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, 
and will go up into the place which the Lord hath promised, 
for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye 
transgress the commandment of the Lord ? but it shall not 
prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you, that 
ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites 
and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall 
by the sword ; because ye have turned away from the Lord, 
therefore the Lord will not be with you. But they pre- 
sumed to go up on to the hill top, nevertheless the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord and Moses departed not out of the 
camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaan- 
ites, and discomfited them even unto Hormah." Here we 
have an example of Determination in Action, in which man 
goes forth relying on his own strength ; and, as he thinks, 
on his own good intentions : divine strength, however, was 
withheld, and miserable failure is the consequence. 



352 ACTION. 

When we are about to come forth in determined action, 
let us beware of the danger of " looking too much at what 
our own resources are for accomplishing the end in view." 
We are to go in the strength of the Lord God, and if we pa- 
rade our own resources, and say, " I will go in the strength 
of this or that/' failure most assuredly lies before us. 
There are temptations connected even with our growth in 
grace ; we never attain to any spiritual acquisition, but that 
Satan is on the watch to ensnare us in it, yes, and perhaps 
to ensnare us by it, saying to us, " Now you have faith, 
venture on such and such a thing." Woe be to us, if, de- 
pending upon our faith, we determine to do anything of the 
kind: our faith, our spiritual power, whatever it be, will no 
doubt come out well in action when it has to work, but we 
must distinctly go "in the strength of the Lord God/' and 
in that only. 

There is another danger, but it is of an opposite charac- 
ter ; " If, instead of keeping steadily before us the strength 
of the Lord God, we muster our own spiritual resources, 
then, seeing their insufficiency, we may be deterred from 
determined action at all." We might w r ell take up the w 7 ords 
which David used of Saul's armor, and say, "I cannot go 
with these." Some, perhaps, will be inclined to discover 
in this an excuse for refraining from action for God altoge- 
ther ; they might say, "lam not equal to what is required 
of me ; I feel I have no spiritual ability for occupying such 
and such a position;" but then, dear friend, what about 
" the strength of the Lord God?" The Psalmist's " I will 
go," was a determination made with reference to His 
strength ; oh ! let yours be the same, and there is little 
doubt that you shall be upheld and strengthened in the 
might that cometh from above. "I can do all things," 



action. 853 

said the Apostle. li through Christ which strengthened 
me. 

Let us observe, further, that " realization of external 
power will keep us close to such power :'* one of our great 
dangers being to get independent of it. or to forget it. 
{: Realization !" — but then it must be realization indeed: 
not merely a correct theory about divine power, but an act- 
ual realization of it. All the theorizing in the world could 
never make a man practically say. ;; I will go in the 
strength of the Lord God. 7 ' We can never separate our- 
selves from divine strength, without coming under the de- 
pressing influences of human weakness. 

The realization of this external power — even the strength 
of the Lord God — will have this further benefit: ;i We 
shall be more contented and peaceful in the failure of cus- 
tomary, expected, and it may be, humanly speaking, useful, 
and all but necessary supplies.'* All these are liable to 
failure ; there is not a human spring, but that may run dry 
— not an earthly friend, but that may prove false — not a 
finely tempered weapon, but that may snap — not a single 
appliance, but that may prove out of order, when we want 
it most for use. The ordinary course which man pursues, 
under circumstances such as these, is to retire from action, 
no matter how determined he may have been, for he has no 
longer the means at hand, on which he relied. In man's 
judgment there would be no disgrace in this : circum- 
stances have altered : and the man has been controlled by, 
or been the victim of, circumstances. If we, however, be 
what we ought to be, if we have made our determinations 
with reference to the strength of the Lord God, the failure 
of all these things need not affect us violently : the strencrth 
of the Lord God is wholly unimpaired. :; Although the 



354 ACTION. 

fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the 
vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall 
yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the 
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord 
God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' 
feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places." 
Habakkuk iii, 17, &e. Resources will dry up like Elijah's 
brook ; but the Lord's hand is not shortened that it can- 
not save ; and amid ever-varying^ circumstances, amid de- 
fections, disappointments, external fightings, and internal 
fears, the man of God, realizing that his strength comes 
from a source external to himself — from God — may carry 
out his determination into action, until it be brought suc- 
cessfully to a close. 

Let us now, for a few moments, glance at the conse- 
quences of the realization of external and Divine power 
in action. 

That will be attempted, under the influence of this 
realization, V)hich otherwise would never have been 
thought of The larger a man's resources become, the 
more important becomes his plans, and the wider becomes 
the range of his thoughts, and aspirations, and aims. If 
then a man have the strength of the Lord God in which to 
go, whither may he not determine to go, what may he not 

* In Gideon's case we have a notable instance of the altering of cir- 
cumstances; his army of thirty -two thousand, is brought down to 300, 
but the word of the Lord concerning them was, " By the 300 men that 
lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand. 
Arise, get thee down unto the host, for I have delivered it into thy 
hand." Judges vii, 1, &c. 



ACTION. 355 

determine to do ? No marvel if we be slow to undertake, 
when we see nothing but our own strength ; an equal 
marvel is it that we are so unwilling to go forward, when 
we may say, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." 

Another consequence will be, that appeara?ices will not 
retard action. " He that observeth the wind shall not 
sow ; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." 
Eccl. xi, 4. Appearances are often dead against the pro*- 
posed action of the people of God ; it is God's intention that 
we should start upon our day's journey, or set about our 
day's work with a cloudy morning, but the sun will break 
out as the day advances. If we see our way clear as to the 
duty of acting, let us determine to advance in the strength 
of the Lord God, and difficulties will gradually disappear. 

There will also be humility in success. We are naturally 
inclined to be proud of our success, and Satan is ever on 
the watch to make us take the glory to ourselves, as though 
by our own might and power we had accomplished whatever 
has been done ; the safest remedy for this, is just to bear in 
mind in whose name and strength we originally set out ; 
that we said, " I will go in the strength of the Lord God." 

We shall thus ascribe all the praise where it is due. 
We shall say, " He hath done marvellous things : His right 
hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory." 
Psalm xcviii, 1. It is dangerous to rob God of His honor; 
to withhold it from Him, even though we do not try to steal 
it for ourselves ; an effectual preservative from this will be 
to remember what His strength has done. " Be strong," 
then, dear reader, "in the Lord, and in the power of His 
might ;"* like the apostle of old you also may say, " I can 
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."f It 

* Ephesians vi, 10. t Philippians iv, 13. 



356 ACTION. 

you feel yourself weak, do not on that account shrink from 
action, but rather seek strength from above; an answer 
shall be given ; you shall hear some such words as the^e, 
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; 
for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help 
thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My 
righteousness. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right 
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not ; I will help thee.'^ If 
we feel daunted at the prospect that lies before us, though 
our course of action be clear, let us cry as Asa did, when 
he set the battle in array against Zerah, whose host was a 
thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; he said, 
14 Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many 
or with them that have no power ; help us, Lord our 
God ; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against 
this multitude. Lord, Thou art our God ; let not man 
prevail against Thee."f Thus let us cry, and in due sea- 
son we shall take up the Psalmist's words and say, u In the 
day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and strength- 
enedst me with strength in my soul. "J Be wise, be deter- 
mined in the work of the Lord ; the Psalmist has given you 
the formula in which your determination is to be expressed, 
" I will go in the strength of the Lord God." 

* Isaiah xli, 10, 13. f 2 Chronicles xiv, 11. % Psalm cxxxviii, 3. 



XK%&£. 



Psalm vii, 11. " I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness: 
and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High." 

Psalm ix, 1. " I will praise Thee, Lord, with my whole heart; I will 
shew forth all Thy marvellous works." 

Psalm ix, 2. " I will be glad and rejoice in Thee : I will sing praise to Thy 
name, Thou Most High" 

Psalm xiii, 6. " / will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bounti- 
fully with me." 

Psalm xvi, 1. u I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel : my reins 
also instruct me in the night seasons." 

Psalm xxviii, 1. " TJie Lord is my strength, and my shield: my heart 
trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and 
with my song will I praise Him." 

Psalm xxx, 1. " I will extol Thee, Lord; for TJiou hast lifted me up, 
and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." 

Psalm xxxiv, 1. l4 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall 
continually be in my mouth" 

Psalm xxxv, 18. u I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: 1 
will praise TJiee among much peopce." 

Psalm lxxi, 14. "But I will hope continually, and v: ill yet praise Thee 
more and more." 

Psalm civ, 33. "Twill sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing 
praise to my God while I have my being." 

Psalm civ, 34. " My meditation of Him shall be sweet : I will be glad in 
the Lord." 

Psalm cviii, 1. " God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, 
even with my glory." 

Psalm cix, 30. u I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth ; yea, I 
will praise Him among the multitude" 

Psalm cxi, 1. " Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole 
heart, in the ossemby of the upright, and in the congregation." 



358 PRAISE. 

Psalm cxviii, 19. " Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into 
them, and I will praise the Lord. 11 

Psalm cxviii, 21. " I will praise Thee: for Thou hast heard me, and art 
become my salvation." 

Psalm cxviii, 28. " Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee : Thou art 
my God, I will exalt Thee. 1 ' 

Psalm cxix, 7. " / will praise Thee with uprightness of heart, when I 
shall have learned Thy righteous judgments ." 

Psalm cxxxviii, 1. u 1 will praise Thee with my whole heart: before the 
gods will I sing praise unto Thee." 

Psalm cxxxviii, 2. " I will praise Thy name for Thy loving-kindness 
and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Tfiy word above all Thy name." 

Psalm cxxxix, 14. " / will praise Thee ; for I am fearfully and wonder- 
fully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." 

Psalm cxliv, 9. " Ivnll sing a new song unto Thee, God: upon a 
spaltery and an instrument often strings will I sing praises unto Thee." 

Psalm cxlv, 1. "I will extol Thee, my God, King ; and I will bless 
T?ty name for ever and ever." 

Psalm cxlvi, 2. " While Hive will 1 praise the Lord: I will sing praises 
unto my God while I have any being," 




I 

me "I Wx\X" of Urate*. 

*HE Christian's life may be compared to the 
mountain stream, whose rise is always small, 
and often shrouded in remoteness, whose pro- 
gress is varied, but whose destination is ever 
to the open sea. 

Here and there you find in such streams the deep and 
shaded pool, where all is silent, and where, as we look into 
it, a dreamy sense of mystery comes over the soul. And 
on a little further, all is changed ; in swift and narrow 
current the water seems hurrying in earnest to some distant 
goal, and though there is so much motion there is no sound ; 
all is motion, but all is silence too. On yet a little further, 
and the same waters have changed their character, and they 
ripple with murmuring music over the smooth pebbles 
which break them into tiny waves, and make them dance 
like sunbeams in the brilliant light of the summer day. 
But that which, perhaps beyond all other features of the 
stream, attracts our attention most, is the bright cascade. 
Full of exhilaration and life, the stream bounds over the 
precipice of stone, and every drop becomes a diamond, and 
the sunshine crowns it with a rainbow, spanning the wreath- 
ing mist with its many-colored arch ; and we almost feel 
our own hearts leap with the leaping waters, as they 
sparkle and effervesce, and boil, and weave veils of watery 



360 PRAISE. 

vapor, and form rings of seething foam, and then haste 
away, laden with bubbles all tinted with the brightest hues, 
as though they had real youth and life, and were off to 
some wedding feast. 

Such is the mountain stream ; such I might also add, 
often is the child of God. His life is varied indeed ; he has 
seasons of deep, and silent, and mysterious experiences ; he 
has times of rapid, silent, earnest action ; he has days of 
softly murmuring happiness ; why should he not also have 
times of praise — joyous, joyous times — effervescing times, 
when all the heart rushes forth to God, in brightness, and 
energy, and joy? Daily praise should ascend from each 
of us to God, as the perfume of the daily sacrifice ascended 
in olden times ; there must not be fewer sacrifices under the 
new dispensation than there were under the old ; we are 
priests to offer unto God the sacrifice of praise and thanks- 
giving. (Hebrews xiii, 15.) Alas ! the dull and monot- 
onous canal, with its muddy banks, is more like many a 
Christian than this dazzling, leaping, living mountain 
stream ! Praising Christians are very few in number, and 
very faint in their work ; they bear scarce any proportion 
to praying Christians ; we shall not be far astray if we 
say that God hears a hundred prayers for every song of 
praise. 

How shall we account for this ? One reason of this sad 
shortcoming is to be found in the natural ingratitude of 
the human heart. The heart of poor fallen man is ungrate- 
ful by nature ; and that ingratitude is especially shewn 
towards God ; it is harder for man to acknowledge a favor 
from God than from his fellow man. We act as though we 
had a right to expect from God, and unless grace come in 
and sanctify our souls, bringing with it gratitude as well as 



PRAISE. 361 

other good things, we shall not give God such praise as He 
desires to hear ; praise which comes from the heart and the 
heart's feelings, and is not a mere acknowledgment of mercy 
received, as cold and business-like a thing as a common 
stamped receipt. 

We can find in the giddy and non-apprehensivfi charac- 
ter of the fallen heart a further cause of shortcoming in 
praise. How much giddiness remains in even thoughtful 
people of God ! They suffer themselves to be whirled along 
from one thing to another, without pausing to think of how 
much they owe to God in all these circumstances and 
events. There is thought in all the music of the grand 
masters of olden time ; the strain may be simple, but it ; 5 
thoughtful; for want of thought we fail in praise. Tt j 
non-apprehensive character of the human heart is a furth r 
sore impediment to praise. Events are continually occui - 
ring in which God's gracious and merciful dealings with ua 
are to be seen, but we do not see them, because we ar j 
weak in apprehensive power, and the consequence is we do 
not praise. No wonder if we do not praise, when we do 
not see what we have to praise for. It may be that many 
of these things will come to light hereafter ; that in eternity 
we shall read the history of our past lives, with all God's 
mercy both in giving and withholding, in ordering and 
restraining ; and then being gifted with apprehensive power 
of the keenest nature, we shall be able to praise with full 
deep meaning in our songs. 

Let us consider further — the deadness of the atmosphere 
in which the human heart has to live and to beat. It is 
very hard for the body to feel elasticity and exhilaration in 
a dull and heavy atmosphere ; when oxygen is scarce the 
spirits soon begin to flag. We know by experience the 

16 



362 PRAISE. 

effect^ of atmosphere ; there are dull heavy days when wc 
are fife for scarce anything, when our arms droop by our 
sides tf$d we drag our feet along, and w T hen it would be 
intolerable exertion to sing ; such an atmosphere as this is 
very often round about the soul, its weight oppresses the 
heart. It is hard to praise when we " dwell in Mesech and 
sojourn, in the tents of Kedar ;" " how shall we sing the 
Lordjs song in a strange land ?" Our own family influence 
may be depressing, the aspect of religious and congrega- 
tional affairs may be gloomy, the people we are thrown into 
company with may be uncongenial, and thus, without any 
immediate sorrow closing our lips, we may find that they 
are closed, and that we cannot open them in praise. For 
this there is one remedy, and but one. As the diver when 
deep beneath the waves draws his supplies from above, so 
must we ; we must seek for something purer and better 
than that which we have to breathe around. We may get 
this purer air in two ways ; the Lord may enable us to 
climb to some height where we shall be above the rolling 
fogs or cold and clammy mists, or He may leave us amongst 
these and yet supply us immediately from Himself, just as 
those who are floating upon the water supply the diver who 
is beneath. Man can be thus supplied, God can breathe 
into him, He can command a connecting medium betw r een 
His oppressed servant and the atmosphere of heaven, and 
through that medium the exhilarating atmosphere of what 
is pure and holy may be breathed. When we complain of 
what is around us, let us remember that although we can- 
not alter our surrounding atmosphere, still the fault that 
we have no better is with ourselves ; we gasp, we languish, 
we are depressed yet all the while it is possible to be so 
happy as to sing a song of praise. 



PRAISE. 363 

Now all this entails loss. Man was made to be a praising 
being, and he cannot come short without there being loss. 
There is always loss when God's design is not carried out. 
Man was originally designed more for praise than for 
prayer, it is since his fall that he has become the reverse, 
more a being of prayer thou praise. It is difficult to 
imagine what Adam could have wanted to pray for in Para- 
dise ; he had everything that could conduce to his good, or 
that he could imagine to conduce to his good : if he had no 
want, if he felt none, what was there to call forth prayer ? 
But there was a great deal to call forth praise : every tree 
and herb, every animal and insect was wonderful : the 
flowers with their perfumes, the fruits with their varied 
flavors, the very enjoyment of existence both in body and 
soul, all called forth the song of praise ; we can conceive of no 
other worship in Paradise before the fall, except this of praise. 

But God's design is not to be for ever marred by the 
devil ; His people are made for His praise ; praise is His 
revenue, and He will not remit it because man has fallen. 
Prayer has come in, but prayer does not dispense with 
praise ; prayer should travail in birth to bring forth praise. 

Well then, since God still requires praise from man, and 
since He has given him abundant materials for praise in 
11 his creation and preservation, and all the blessings of this 
life, but above all in His inestimable love in the redemption 
of the world, by our Lord Jesus Christ, in the means of 
grace and in the hope of glory, " we may well expect 
to find loss, unless His requirement be carried out ; and the 
loss in this case will be very similar to that which is en- 
tailed in the matter of Ministry and Testimony. God's 
honor is robbed, the aspect in which His people present Him 
and His service to the world is one of gloom ; He is mis- 



364 PRAISE. 

represented in the eyes of those who are on the watch for 
everything that can detract from His claims for service ; 
they say, "look at that long-visaged creature, with his head 
bent down, and his eyes lustreless, and his breath all spent 
in sighs, there is what religion does for a man, come along 
with us, you see religion cannot do much towards making a 
man happy." Besides which, God is robbed directly; He 
hears the praises of the angel and the archangel ; all around 
His throne are possessed with a praising spirit ; the souls 
of those in blessedness are full of praise and joy ; on earth 
alone there is silence, or it may be here and there the scanty 
notes of isolated song. On earth ! and who are to be found 
on earth ? Men who are daily and hourly helped by Him; 
men who have been saved from perdition by Him ; men who 
were purchased at the price of the bloodshedding of His own 
Son ; men who have outstretched before them a glorious 
eternity ; surely from such God might well claim the song 
of praise. 

The world also suffers. We are bound to impress the 
world, so far as we can, so far as our influence and example 
reach ; and what impression do we leave in this matter of 
praise ? Can we say that we have given any company in 
which we have been, or any individual with whom we have 
associated, the idea that it is a pleasant thing to serve the 
Lord ? Have we been whining and complaining Christians, 
or tart and twisted Christians, or stiff, starched Christians, 
or mourning and melancholy Christians, any, every kind 
of Christian, except a praising one ? We have met with 
Christians of all the above mentioned kinds ; we believe they 
were real Christians, but some of them, as has been well 
remarked, it would be quite time enough to know when we 
meet in heaven. Well, what have we been ? What, dear 



PRAISE. 365 

reader, have you been ? Has your union with Christ ever 
lit up a brilliant light in your eyes, or made a sweet smile 
play around your mouth ; such a light as no artist ever 
painted, such a smile as no sculptor ever chiselled ? And 
did men say to themselves " That is a happy man;" and 
did they feel that your smile and your cheerfulness recom- 
mended religion, and did they begin to think that religion 
opened the door to enjoyment, and not to misery and woe ? 
These are important questions, and it will be well for us to 
think what our influence upon our fellow men really has 
been. A Christian may often do more with one smile than 
with fifty frowns : more with one song of praise than with 
a thousand denunciations of woe. How can the world 
believe that religion makes men happy, unless it sees that 
it does so ? We cannot expect the world to walk by faith ; 
it walks by sight ; it judges by the seeing of the eye, and 
by the hearing of the ear : and that being the case, let us 
give it a smile to see, and a song to hear. 

And now let us turn to ourselves. We lose grievously 
by not having a praising spirit. We have not that elasticity 
and spring which, as was shewn in the chapter on :; Heart- 
iness in Action," would make us bound forward on our 
heavenward journey, and set cheerfully about our spiritual 
work. The sailors give a cheery cry as they weigh the 
anchor ; the ploughman whistles in the morning as he drives 
his team ; the milkmaid sings her rustic song as she set3 
about her early task : when soldiers are leaving the town 
in which they have been quartered, and their spirits are 
supposed to be likely to be affected at leaving friends behind, 
they do not march out to the tune of the * : Dead March in 
Saul," but to the quick notes of some lively air. A prais- 
ing spirit would do for us all that their songs and music 



PRAISE. 

do for them ; and if only we could determine to praise the 
Lord, we should surmount many a difficulty, which our low 
spirits never would have been equal to, and we should do 
double the work which can be done if the heart be languid 
in its beatings, if we be crushed and trodden down in soul. 
As the evil spirit in Saul yielded in olden time to the in- 
fluence of the harp of the son of Jesse, so would the spirit 
of melancholy often take flight from us, if only we would 
take up the song of praise. 

The spirit of merriment is, above all others, the most 
infectious. It spreads from one to another in company ; 
if it once commence, it generally rapidly increases in an 
individual ; and thus should it be in the holy joy and 
exhilaration of the heart, it should spread over the soul. 
u Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me bless 
His holy name." Thus sang the Psalmist. Thus should 
we sing too. We should with him issue this, which is one 
of the grandest invocations which can be uttered, and which 
is addressed to one of the noblest audiences that can be con- 
voked. The Psalmist peals a summons through all the 
courts and chambers of his being, and calls forth every ca- 
pacity of his nature, that one and all, they might join in a 
vast chorus, of which the name of God should be the theme, 
and the glory of God the end. It seems as though he 
gathered into some one vast inner chamber his powers of 
thought, and memory, and hope, and fear, and love, and 
that he gave charge to his soul to be the leader of this 
choir, yea, to be the very soul to it, breathing life and sense 
into its melody, to give the key-note to its chants, and to 
rule its song. Yes ! as David did, so let us do also. Each 
man has within his own bosom the materials for a choir, as 
tuneful as any which ever stood in surpliced array beneath 



PRAISE. 367 

the cathedral's fretted roof; a choir with full, deep, rich 
voices, whose anthems can swell, whose choruses can peal 
upwards — upward, upward, far above the din and turmoil 
of the earth, until they float into the presence of God Him- 
self, and mingle, it may be, with the myriad voices of those 
whose praises are ever heard around the throne. 

Let us turn now to some of the particulars for which 
the Psalmist declared that he would praise God. We 
shall confine ourselves to such as we find mentioned in the 
verses at the heading of this chapter, and to the points 
immediately connected with them. The first which we are 
to notice is that found in Psalm cxxxix, 14. " I will praise 
Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." 

We think but little of our personal creation, and it may 
be that we have but very seldom really praised God for His 
wonderful dealings towards us in our physical frames. The 
Psalmist saw enough in his own body to excite his praise ; 
so might we in ours, and that without going very deep into 
the anatomical mysteries of muscles, and bones, and nerves. 

The daily powers of enjoyment which we possess in 
our bodies should excite our praise. It seems, no doubt, a 
small and common operation enough, to eat one's breakfast, 
dinner, or supper, and we generally thank God, hj means 
of a grace, for the provision ; but does it ever strike us, 
how much we have to be thankful for, in the bare fact, that 
we are able to digest that food ? The horrors of indigestion 
are many, and take a multitude of forms. We are told by 
physicians that uneasy sensations of all kinds, heart-burn, 
lassitude, weariness, headache, sickness, broken sleep, loss 
of appetite, horrid dreams, irritable temper, are some of its 
accompaniments ; and if we were to trace them any further, 
we should see them assuming the dimensions of evil of a 



368 PRAISE. 

most formidable kind. Many a man's life has been made a 
burden to him, from the simple fact, that his digestive 
powers were bad. Well ! if you, dear friend, can eat com- 
mon food, to make no mention of dainties, do you ever think 
how much you have to be thankful for, and how much you 
ought to praise God for? See what has to take place, 
before that common process of digestion can be satisfactorily 
and comfortably accomplished. Before your food descends 
into the stomach it must have prepared, and in readiness to 
receive it, a sufficiency of that important fluid known as . 
gastric juice. When the food is dissolved by this gastric 
juice, and changed into the greyish or whitish pulp called 
chyme, your food, thus dissolved, is slowly conveyed, by a 
curious motion of the stomach, to its right and lower ex- 
tremity, which is called the pylorus; i. e., the door, or 
outeigate of the stomach, or, as some call it, the door 
keeper. That pylorus or door keeper, is in itself a wonder- 
ful study ; it seems to exercise a sort of choice ; for if any- 
thing present itself there, which is not proper to be con- 
veyed into the system, or not well adapted for making blood, 
it does not for some time suffer it to pass. After this the 
chyme has to be mixed with the bitter fluid called bile, 
which comes through a small pipe from the liver, and 
also with another liquor resembling saliva, proceeding from 
what is popularly called the " sweetbread.' 7 The chyle is 
now conveyed along in a number of minute vessels, which 
all meeet in a common trunk or receptacle, upon the first 
or upper vertebra of the loins. From this receptacle one 
or more pipes carry it upwards, on the right side of the 
spine, towards the top of the left shoulder, where, meeting 
the great vein which brings back the blood from the left 
arm, it empties its contents. Then the chyle mixes with the 



praise. 369 

blood, which immediately descending into the heart, passes 
through the lungs to undergo a peculiar and important pro- 
cess, which we cannot enter on here.* When we take all 
this into account, and bear in mind how fearfully and won- 
derfully we are made, and how many evils are averted from 
us in this one matter, surely we shall see that we have 
cause for praising God. 

Then take the air we breathe. Perhaps it seems a small 
thing to some of our readers that they have air to breathe, 
and it is an equally small thing that they are able to 
breathe it ; but let them look at the man afflicted with 
asthma, gasping, fighting for a breath, to whom it would 
be almost heaven upon earth to breathe freely even the air 
laden with what we should call the most nauseous smell, 
and such a sight would do them good ; they would then 
see that well might some of their breath be spent in praising 
God, seeing to Him they owe every breath they draw. 

Look also at the almost continual immunity from pain 
which many of our readers enjoy. By far the largest num- 
ber have little more than an occasional ache, just enough, 
if they used it aright, to shew them how great their mercy 
is, in daily exemption from suffering. Suppose when you 
have a toothache, it were to become permanent ; suppose 
when your head were racked with this pain, you also had 
what a holy man who suffered excruciatingly, called, " the 
toothache in his back !" in a word, suppose you were a con- 
tinual sufferer, instead of being as you are, and were reduced 
to saying as one of old did, " thank God for four-and-twenty 
hours without pain," then you would know how much you 
had to show a praising spirit for, when you were simply 

* See a very interesting and intelligible little book called "The Houso 
I live in." 



370 ■ PRAISE. 

free from pain. The body of man should be like a well- 
tuned harp, every muscle and nerve should be like an har- 
monious string, and from them all, the thankful soul should 
draw God's just tribute of thanksgiving and of praise ; and 
be it so, that there are some strings which He has touched 
with a chastening hand, even from them in a minor key 
may be heard a sound of song ; praise that pain is no worse, 
praise even from them ; praise that support is given for 
bearing it ; praise that a time is coming when there shall 
be pain no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, for " God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 

Our daily powers of enjoyment in common things, to say 
nothing of countless extraordinary favors, should stir our 
hearts, when we consider how fearfully and wonderfully we 
are made. Think, dear reader, of this ; and remember 
that God can teach men to praise not only by pleasure, but 
by pain ; this latter is often the discipline of the rod, a 
messenger just sent to remind us of mercies for which we 
forget to praise. 

If we pass from our personal creation to our daily 
powers of enjoyment, how much have we here also to stir 
our praise ! Let us look at the sky over our heads, what a 
lovely prospect have we even there ! Had God chosen, He 
might have made the sky of a dull and leaden hue ; if the 
atmosphere were duly supplied with oxygen, we could live 
under a leaden sky, as well as under one of the most gor- 
geous tints ; there is no absolute necessity for the beauty, 
and oftentimes the splendor which meets our eye when we 
look up. At one hour we see the sky a deep liquid blue, 
without a cloud or spot ; then we have presented to us 
pillared masses of resplendent cloud, reminding us of the 
great white throne which shall be set ; and then the scene 



PRAISE. 371 

changes again, and the pillared cloud is removed, and 
smaller clouds, all glittering in the sunshine, with swift 
yet stately motion, traverse that field of blue, and we think 
of the armies of heaven which follow Jesus on white horses. 
Oh ! that sky is a grand and noble object of contemplation, 
and if only God teach us by His own handiwork, our hearts 
may be elevated indeed by looking at its glories. There 
go the pall-like clouds with their golden fringes and their 
silver linings, telling us that there is wealth attached even 
to our darkest sorrows ; there lie scattered all over the 
heavens the dappled masses of silver and gold, as though 
the Lord of glory had Himself passed by that way, and it 
had been strewn for His feet by adoring angels' hands ; 
yonder the heavens are overspread with a burnished sheet, 
as though the sun would remind us as he set of what shall 
be the portion of the Lord's people after their life's sun- 
setting, even the city of gold. Times there are when the 
jasper, the sapphire, the chalcedony, the emerald, the sar- 
donyx, the sardius, the chrysolite, the beryl, the topaz, the 
chrysoprasus, the jacinth, and the amethyst, seem all flung 
in wild confusion abroad upon that sky ; or when, amid its 
ever-changing hues, they seem to melt into, or give place 
to one another ; and if we look at this sky as it is, and as 
it might have been, is there not cause for praise, even as 
we look up ? But it is impossible to sum up man's daily 
powers of enjoyment : let the reader just lay down this 
book for a few moments, and bethink him of what has fallen 
to his lot. and he will see that he is acting an ungrateful 
part, if he will not praise. 

Nor must we forget God's gracious provision for His 
people, in suffering. There are many of God's suffering 
one's on earth. They are laid on beds of sickness; they 



872 PRAISE. 

have hours of solitude ; their food is like bitter herbs ; their 
drink like vinegar ; their clothing is, it may be, the ban- 
dages of their sores, and each breath they draw is sorrow ; 
but if they be God's suffering ones, then, despite all this, 
they have cause to praise. We have met the suffering ones 
of the Kingdom up in attics, almost above the hum of the 
crowded street ; down in cellars, almost beneath the vibra- 
tions of the loaded wagons; we have seen them in the 
morning, and they were suffering, and at noon, and they 
were suffering, and at eventide, and they were suffering : 
but we have also seen them happy and praising, in the 
morning, and at noon, and at eventide again. And how 
was this ? They were not left of God, because they had 
not received one kind of blessing ; no ! He had given to 
them largely, only in another way; they had the sick man's 
blessings — blessed foretastes of what was laid up for them 
at their journey's end ; high thoughts of how they were 
glorifying God in suffering ; special communings with Jesus, 
and comforts from the Holy Ghost. And good cause for 
praise have many suffering ones, when they think of how 
much and how truly they can glorify God in simple en- 
durance. God can be as much glorified in endurance as in 
action ; there is often more action in endurance than meets 
the common eye. We would say to the dear afflicted 
children of God, "You occupy a real and an important 
position in the army of God, and you are taking an effective 
part in the great operations which are being carried on." 
The rifleman in his sombre suit is hidden away from sight 
in the waving corn, or behind a tree or stone, but he is 
taking part in the engagement, as much as the artilleryman 
^ho stands to Iris gun, ov the dragoon whose polished helmet 
jijid glittering swQrci are seen flashing in the charge ; and 



PRAISE, 373 

the garrison who defend an important fortress, and keep 
watch and ward for long days and nights, and at the utmost 
but resist assault with success, are as truly engaged in the 
great conflict as those who fight and are seen in the more 
open field ; so the suffering ones of God, hidden away from 
sight, engaged in bearing pain without a murmur, in exer- 
cising patience as for Jesus, and in the presence of evil 
spirits, are just as much engaged in the great conflict be- 
tween good and evil, as the minister who is occupied in 
more public ministrations, and whose name, as a devoted 
man of action, may be well known throughout the church 
of God. Encourage the suffering ones of the Lord with this 
thought; say to them, " Every day you are fighting in the 
presence of evil spirits ; every day you may win fresh glory 
to your celestial crown ; every day you also are on the 
great battle-field, and shall have part in the distribution of 
the spoil." Such a view of illness as this will cheer some 
desponding friend; he will no longer say, c: I am left 
alone;" he will have a fresh motive in suffering patiently; 
he will feel all the interest of an active position ; he too, he 
will feel, is a soldier on active service ; and even amid the 
groanings of the flesh will be heard the praisings of the 
spirit. There is deep reality in the notes of sick-bed 
praise. 

Let us now turn to the Psalmist's praise for God's 
u bountiful dealing" "I will sing unto the Lord, because 
He hath dealt bountifully with me." Psalm xiii, 6. 

The position in which we find this verse is worthy of 
remark. We find it coming in at the end of a Psalm, 
almost every word of which is about danger and sorrow. 
Many trials are spoken of and recognised, but they are 
not allowed to hide out the bountiful dealing of God. Now 



374 PRAISE. 

it often happens that we fail to recognise God's bountiful 
dealing, when we have had some recent trial. We allow 
the trial, with its thoughts and sorrows, to swallow us up, 
and to hide the bounty of God's dealings towards us. We 
are tempted to act by God, just as man, in a petulant 
temper, often acts by his fellow-man ; we forget in a present 
refusal all former gifts — in what we think a present slight, 
all former favors. We are like the Israelites, who as soon 
as they came into some temporary difficulty or distress, 
were forgetful of all that God had done for them, in bring- 
ing them forth from the land of Egypt/ This is a point in 
which we must be on our guard ; Satan will be sure to fix 
our minds upon this recent trouble ; he will in effect say, 
"What! with this' before you, while you are actually 
smarting from it, can you talk of the bounty of God ?" 
Even so; with this actually before us, actually pressing 
upon us, ours must be the spirit which says, " The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name 
of the Lord." 

We must be on our guard also against a readiness to 
detract from Gods dealings with us. This spirit of 
detraction is only too common, and it has a most baleful 
effect upon the spirit of Praise. It hides out the greatness 
of God in action ; it mixes up His dealings with circum- 
stances ; and we, ever looking at the seen rather than the 
unseen, dwell upon the persons and circumstances brought 
into play, and not upon God, who put them into motion, to 
produce the desired result. For example, I need a sum of 
money — say a thousand pounds— to carry out some design 
for God ; I seek it from the Lord ; I do not seek it from 
man, but simply and directly from God ; surely, if it be 
sent, the praise should be given to Him alone. In answer 



PRAISE. 375 

to prayer the needed sum begins to drop in ; now in pence, 
now in pounds, now in larger sums ; Satan, however, is at 
hand to detract ; he says, " Yes, it is true this money is 
coming, but then it is by natural means ; God is not to be 
so immediately praised and thanked as you think ; that 
pound came from a person who knew you, and who never 
would have given anything but for that ; and that cheque 
came from a man who never would have given it but that 
he is personally connected with the place ; and thus Satan 
goes on trying to account for every farthing, and by pro- 
ducing human agencies endeavors to rob God of the praise 
which is His due. We may be able to account for almost 
every farthing ; but if the money had been sought from 
God, and not from man at all, the very fact of its having 
come, should draw forth our praise, for the right hand of 
the Lord has brought mighty things to pass. So, if we 
have a dear friend, for whom we have prayed, restored to 

health, Satan whispers, " It was Dr. who cured him, 

what a clever man !' ; Or, "It was such and such 
medicine ; recommend it to all your friends !" and thus the 
means are made to detract from the One by whom the 
means were given, and by whom the use of the means was 
taught. If we are to have a praising spirit, we must be on 
our guard against these detractions of Satan's, or very soon 
we shall find ourselves giving to the creature that which 
belongs to the Creator ; instead of the praise of God we 
shall be engaged with the praise of man. We must fix our 
eye steadily upon Him ; we must say, " This comes, Lord, 
from Thee ; to Thee, and Thee only, be the praise." 

There are certain seasons ichen the dealings of God arc 
apparently unbountiful, and we must be on our guard, 
lest, at such seasons, Satan deprive us of a praising spirit. 



876 PRAISE. 

We are often not permitted to have our own way ; we are 
not given what we wish for, perhaps what we think we want. 
When this is the case, we are very apt to think that God is 
not bountiful in His dealings towards us; and however 
much we may be resigned, we can hardly attain to a spirit 
of praise ; but what is the issue of this ? We are kept from 
some evil — stopped upon a road at the end of which is a 
precipice ; or God is preparing to deal far more bountifully 
with us than we should have done with ourselves. The 
issue of all God's dealings with His people must be bounti- 
ful and good ; happy is that man who has faith enough to 
praise while the issue is being worked out. We may rest 
assured that God never yet dealt with any of His people 
with a close and niggard hand. 

Let the believing reader look, however, at what the Lord 
has done for his soul, and there indeed, he will find 
evidences of bounteous dealing. Well might he think of 
"the riches of God's grace," and say, u Return unto thy 
rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with 
thee." Never let any man who knows the salvation of 
the Lord detract from His character as a bounteous dealer, 
because of some present afflictive dispensations, or because 
he is permitted to be exercised in any spiritual trials ; let 
him look at the rich dealings of God with his soul ; let him 
see hell escaped, heaven prepared, glory purchased, an 
abundant entrance opened to everlasting life; then let him 
see at what a price all this has been procured, and let him 
look at what he himself is, even at the best : and let the 
story of God's bounteous dealing ever be in his mouth. Oh, 
that the Lord's people could ever dwell in full realization 
of how bountifully they have been dealt with, then, instead 
of fretting over every little thing, their mouth would be 



PRAISE. 377 

filled with God's praise and honor all the day long. If you, 
dear reader, know the Lord, stir up your heart to rejoicing 
because of this bounteous dealing ; do not let your dull 
laggard heart alone; say, " Come, wake up, bethink thee 
of thy mercies, 'make a joyful noise unto the Lord,' the 
Lord must be praised, and thou must praise Him." Per- 
haps the heart is heavy and sleepy, but we must wake it up 
out of sleep ; we must blow up the slumbering embers upon 
the altar, and wave the incense censers, until the perfumed 
smoke curls upward to the skies ; the sacrifice of praise and 
thanksgiving must be offered, and bounteous dealing must 
be the story of its accompanying song. my soul, "give 
unto the Lord the glory due unto His name." " Bless the 
Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits." u Bless 
the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His 
holy name." v 

Giving of Help is another of the mercies which stirs 
the Psalmist's praise. u The Lord is my strength and my 
shield, my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped, there- 
fore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I 
praise Him." 

The reception of help issued in joy of heart ; and joy of 
heart issued in praise. Now we also, like the Psalmist, 
have received help ; as with him so also with us, we have 
had joy of heart when we were helped ; but has our joy 
like his, issued in praise? There is scarce anyone who 
does not know what it is to have felt an exhilaration of 
spirits, when some threatened calamity is passed ; or when 
something has been endured which had been greatly feared ; 
when a door of help has been opened ; when the weight 
which pressed has been removed. As soon as all had come 
right, and the night-mare which bestrode our heart had 



378 PRAISE. 

taken its departure, we could sing for joy; everything 
seemed delightful ; we felt in good humor with every one ; 
we had a gentle intoxication and effervescence of spirit ; iu 
that effervescence we seemed to get rid of a great deal of 
acid, which, perhaps, for some time, had made us rather 
sharp and tart. Now, we must not go out of our way to 
look for great events ; those of which we are now speaking 
are to be found strewn tolerably thickly all over the face of 
our daily life. Men of business have received payment of 
bills, which were very shaky concerns, and yet upon which 
their own credit had involuntarily been staked ; they have 
found those who could help them in a pinch, ready to do so, 
when they went to them with fear and trembling, not know- 
ing but that they would decline to give the needed aid ; 
women have been delivered from the pain and peril of child- 
birth;* children have been brought through illnesses and 
so forth ; and has the joy of heart, and the sense of relief, 
obtained on these various occasions, and such as these, led 
the heart to praise ? If God be not traced in everything, 



* "We cannot pass this subject by, without expressing deep regret at 
the mere ceremony which "The Thanksgiving of "Women after Child- 
birth, oommonly called, the Churching of Women," too often becomes. 
Some cannot go out to a ball, or to the theatre, &c, until they have been 
churched! and we have often been pained by the evident want of feel- 
ing displayed. The words in the Psalm read upon the occasion, aro 
supposed to be those (certainly not of the officiating minister, but) of the 
woman who has recently received the mercy, but they often end in mero 
sound, and nothing else. " What reward shall I give unto the Lord, for 
all the benefits that He hath done unto me ? I will receive the cup of 
salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. 1 ' Alas ! this so called 
thanksgiving is too often nothing but solemn mockery ; the clerk says 
"Amen," and perhaps the woman says " Amen," and there the matter 
ends; in what way such persons " take the cup of salvation" as we can- 
not perceive ourselves, so we must leave them to determine with God. 



PRAISE. 379 

of course it has not: but if He be, how comes it to pass 
that we allow our joy to evaporate in mere exhilaration of 
heart? There are many who are no better than the 
Amalekites. of whom we read in 1 Samuel xxx. who "were 
spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, and drinking, and 
dancing:'" the joy of the world is carnal: it never issues 
in the praise of God. 

May the people of God. who read these pages, be on 
their guard against omitting praise when they are helped : 
they cannot fall into this error without greatly displeasing 
Him. Ingratitude is odious in God's sight: and this is 
ingratitude of no trifling degree. Let our joy take the 
distinct form of praise : praise to God — acknowledgment 
that it is from Him we have received the blessing, and that 
to Him the praise is due. A favor is doubly sweet when it 
comes from one we love : if we feel God to be our Father, 
and if we love Him as such, will it not be doubly sweet to 
us to receive the blessing from Him ? '"General praise" 
will never do : we must offer " specific praise." for specific 
blessings : an act of praise for each act of mercy, each help, 
each blessing as it comes. When we have been helped, or 
received a blessing, it is well to stand up before God in the 
privacy of our ovrn room, an ip into the sky. and try. 

as it were, to pierce to His very Throne, and offer up a 
special thanksgiving, naming that very blessing just re- 
ceived, by its common name : for example. 
matter already touched upon.) if money be needed, it is well 
ray for it with our hands open, and in the attitude of a 
person putting out the hand to receive : that is very b 
ful. especially if we look at our hands as then empty : then 
when the Lord sends what we need, either for His cause or 
for ourselves, it is well to take it. and to put it into the 



380 PRAISE. 

palm of our hands, and kneel down or stand up before the 
Lord; and after stirring up our minds by looking at it 
there, and thinking how it came there, to praise Him, and 
say, " I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast sent this into my 
hand." There is something very distinct and well-defined 
in such an act as this ; and there is a reality which we be- 
lieve to be acceptable to God. When a preacher has sought 
for help in his day's ministry, or in preaching a sermon, it 
is well, when he comes home, to go into his study, and then 
and there thank God for that help ; and far indeed was that 
good woman from being a weak-minded or silly person, 
who, when she had dressed and laid upon the table a dinner 
for a large party, surveyed it all, and as she did so, thanked 
God, who had enabled her to do her cooking well. 

The loving-kindness of the Lord was another subject 
of the Psalmist's praise. He says, "I will praise Thy 
name for Thy loving-kindness, and for Thy truth." (Psalm 
cxxxviii, 2.) There are two beautiful thoughts brought 
out here, one is, " God's condescension in thought;" the 
other, "His tenderness in action." These are both in- 
cluded in " loving-kindness." And both of these are shewn 
by God to His own people. He humbleth Himself to be- 
hold the things of the children of men ; He condescends to 
men of low estate ; of the blessed Jesus it is said, that 
" Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, 
that ye through His poverty might be rich." (3 Cor. viii, 
9.) Who can tell the depths to which God condescends in 
loving thought? We are told that the very hairs of our 
head are all numbered ; and if the hairs of our head, then 
surely all else beside. God, as the Heavenly Father, takes 
an interest in every thing about His people ; He takes this 
interest in matters which they think beneath His notice, or 



PRAISE. 381 

of which they, from their ignorance, do not know the im- 
portance. The mother may draw whole stores of comfort 
from a realization of the condescending thoughtfulness of 
God. He will be interested about her babe : if she commit 
it to Him. He who made the universe will, with His infinite 
mind, think upon her cradle and the helpless creature that 
is rocked to sleep therein. The sick man may draw whole 
stores of comfort from the same source, for he can believe 
that the One by whom the body was fearfully and wonder- 
fully made, will think over the sufferings of that body, and 
alleviate them, or give strength for the endurance of them 
if they must be borne — condescension of thought marks 
all the dealings of God with His people. 

And hard following upon it comes tenderness in action, 
Xow this •• tenderness in action." is a great part of the 
loving-kindness of God : it is meet that a thoughtful mind 
and tender hand should go together in perfection of love. 
God is not only energetic, but tender also in action ; He is 
the God of the dew-drops, as well as the God of the thun- 
der-showers : the God of the tender grass-blade, as much 
as of the mountain oak. We read of great machines, which 
are able to crush iron bars, and yet they can touch bo 
gentlv as not to break the shell of the smallest e^g : as it is 
with them, so is it with the hand of the Most High : He can 
crush a world, and yet bind up a wound. And great need 
have we of tenderness in our low estate : a little tl 
would crush us : we have such bruised and feeble souls, that 
unless we had One who would deal tenderly with us. we 
must soon be destroyed. There are many soul diseases, to 
which a tender hand alone can minister : just as there are 
many states of body which need tender and patient nursing 
and which cannot otherwise be successfully dealt with, even 



382 PRAISE. 

by any amount of skill. This tenderness we see continually 
in action in woman's ministrations in ordinary life. Her 
voice has notes more sweet and soft than can be distilled 
from any instrument of music ; her hand has a touch more 
delicate and fine than even the breath of any summer's 
breeze ; it is to her man carries the stories of his sorrows ; 
it is she that has to pillow his aching, heavy head ; well as 
he thinks he can do without her, in the more exciting 
scenes of life, he finds that he is not independent when the 
time comes for suffering and grief. And what makes 
woman equal to sustaining the heavy burden thus cast upon 
her ? How comes the ivy to be able to sustain the oak, 
around which it used to cling, ornamenting it, while it 
owned its lordship and strength ? She does all in the power 
of the tenderness of her nature ; rugged and uncouth would 
life indeed be if such tenderness were withdrawn. But 
pass away to divine things — from woman, to Him that was 
born of woman — and what do we find, but tenderness of 
action in Him ? That tenderness, which in any of mankind 
is but as a spark from the fire, is perfect in His bosom ; its 
fulness is there ; and it is continually being shewn to them. 
The good Samaritan not only binds up the wound, and 
pours in oil and wine, but sets the wounded man upon his 
own beast, and says "take care of him." We have often 
felt this tenderness of action on God's part ; we have been 
gently restored when we went astray ; we never received a 
heavy chastisement when a light one would do ; we never 
had a chastisement prolonged one moment beyond the needed 
time. Has not Christ given us a balm in many times of 
sorrow ? Has He not spoken to us with a gentle voice, 
when one of thunder would not have been too loud for our 
deserts ; and have we not here good cause for praise ? Ex- 



PRAISE. 883 

pect loving-kindnesses from the Lord, enjoy them, but oh ! 
do not allow them to pass by unnoticed, because of their 
delicacy; their very tenderness, their very delicacy is their 
beauty. 0, my soul, be all grossness of vision removed, 
and thine be the Psalmist's words, " I will praise Thy name 
for thy loving-kindness." 

We would not altogether pass over the Truth of God 
as a subject of praise, although to go deep into it would be 
altogether beyond the limits of the present volume. We 
would only draw the reader's attention to " the coming out 
of God's intrinsic character," as brought before us here. 
He is a truthful God ; He has been, from time immemorial, 
tried and proved by His people as such: and that truth 
should be one subject of their praise. But let us remember 
God's intrinsic character; let us praise Him for honoring 
and answering the dependence which we have placed- upon 
His word ; let us not lose sight of His character, in the 
gracious acts which have proceeded from it. We rested 
upon God's truth ; truth has not disappointed us, and for 
it we should praise. The redeemed in glory praise God 
for His truth: they have attained the land of blessedness, 
simply because they reposed upon that truth ; a shadow of 
variableness in God might have ruined them all ; but with 
Him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning, and 
they are saved. What have we to depend upon, but simply 
the truth of God ? We have nothing to lean upon, but 
His simple word. "He that believeth shall be saved," is 
our only security for eternal life, but that is enough. "God 
is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He 
should repent;" and it is the truth of God that is to carry 
the believer safe to heaven. As we rest, then, upon this 
truth : as we feel it equal to all our need : as we see the 



384 PRAISE. 

gigantic interests at stake — and yet not at stake — for they 
are safe; well may the Psalmist's words be ours, " I will 
praise Thy name for Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth." 

Escape from the triumphing of the ungodly, stirred 
also the spirit of praise. "I will extol Thee, God, for 
Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to tri- 
umph over me." Psalm xxx, 1. 

If ever there was a man who had reason to thank God in 
this respect, it was David. He was hunted like a partridge 
upon the mountains ; those of his own household lifted up 
the heel against him ; and there were some seasons when it 
seemed almost impossible that he could escape even with his 
life. David was in this a type of Christ ; the enemy was 
continually upon the watch for him; fraud and violence 
combined to take away His life ; but the enemies of Jesus 
had no triumph over Him ; They never attacked Him with- 
out a defeat, and when at last He died, He laid down His 
life. An apparent triumph was gained over David when he 
fled from his palace, a fugitive from the violence of his own 
child ; and an apparent triumph was gained over the 
Saviour, when He hung upon the cross, but David was 
restored, and Jesus was raised from the dead, and the 
triumphing of the wicked was but short. The truth is, Satan 
defeats himself; his energies are not destroyed by God, but 
they are neutralized; God does not always prevent his 
working, but He does make his efforts turn against himself 
and on behalf of those of whom it is said, " All things shall 
work together for good." Romans viii, 28. 

Satan no doubt often strikes the people of God, but the 
arrow that he shoots recoils upon himself, and inflicts upon 
him and his cause, the injury he thought to inflict on them. 
The persecution of the early Christians scattered thera 



PRAISE. 885 

throughout the world, and spread the gospel throughout the 
nations ; and now the very talk which there often is against 
the truth, but serves to make some enquire, and to spread 
its influence more and more. It is true the enemy may 
rejoice for a season — the beast that ascendeth out of the 
bottomless pit may make war against the witnesses, and 
overcome them, and kill them ; the peoples, the nations, 
and kindreds, and tongues, may rejoice over them, and make 
merry, for three days and a half; but their triumphing is 
only short, for "after three days and a half, the spirit of 
life from God enters into them, and they stand upon their 
feet, and great fear falls upon them which see them.' 7 We 
must distinguish between temporary and final triumph. 
The first is allowed to the enemy, the second is not ; the 
foe is permitted very often to rejoice for a while, but the 
final triumph is never left with him. Let us remember this 
in our own conflicts with the Evil One, in many of which 
we seem to be worsted : on such occasions we lose all heart ; 
we believe that there is truth in all that boasting with which 
be presses us so hard : we think that he will follow up his 
victory, until we be utterly destroyed ; but all this is only 
for a season: let us cast ourselves on God, let us say, 
11 Consider and hear me, Lord my God; lighten mine 
eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death ; lest mine enemy say, 
I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me re- 
joice when I am moved;" and we shall have cause with the 
Psalmist to say, "I will extol Thee, God, for Thou hast 
lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." 
With the exception of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ Him- 
self, there never lived one over whom the devil had not 
temporary triumphs ; that they were only temporary is clue 
to preserving grace. Let us consider the histories of olden 

17 



386 PRAISE. 

time ? and we shall see that they all witness this. The tri- 
umph over Joseph, over David, over Daniel, over Shadrach, 
Meshech, and Abednego, over Mordecai, and all such, was 
but short; it was a triumph, but only for a while; so is it 
with us, it shall not last. And let this encourage any of 
us who are greatly depressed under some present defeat, 
which involves a corresponding triumphing of the Evil One. 
He now meditates further proceedings against us ; his design 
is to press us ; to go on from one victory to another over us, 
but God can lift us up. We have cast ourselves down, but 
He can lift us up. He (if we cast ourselves upon Him) 
will make the case His own, He will enter into conflict with 
our foe ; He will lift us up so that we also shall be as it 
were set upon our legs again to fight, and we shall win back 
the ground, the loss of which gave the enemy occasion to 
blaspheme. The Psalmist declared that God prepared a table 
for him in the presence of his enemies ; and what He did for 
him He will do for us ; only let us not forget to praise ; the 
Psalmist said, " Thou hast lifted me up, Thou hast not made 
my foes to rejoice ;" we must say the same — we must extol 
God, attributing the victory to Him, for by Him it has been 
w T on. Not to recognise Him in action, not distinctly to give 
the praise to Him, will be to put the enemy in the way of 
rejoicing over us by a further fall. 

There remains one point more which we would especially 
notice, and i.e., praise for hearing prayer. " I will praise 
Thee, for Thou hast heard me." (Psalm cxviii, 21.) In 
this paint, almost above all others, God is frequently robbed 
of His praise. Men pray ; they receive an answer to their 
prayers ; and then forget to praise. This happens especially 
in small things ; we should ever remember that whatever 
is worth praying for, is worth praising for also. The fact 






P E A I S E . 38T 

is, we do not recognise God in these small things as much 
as we should : if we do praise, it is for the receipt of the 
blessing, with which we are pleased, leaving out of account 
the One from whom the blessing has come. This is not 
acceptable to God ; we must see Him in the blessing, if we 
would really praise. The Psalmist says, " I will praise 
Thee, for Thou hast heard me ;" he praised not only because 
he had received, but also because he had been heard — 
because the living God, as a hearing God, was manifested 
in His mercies. And when we know that God has heard 
us, let us not delay our praise ; if we put off our thanks- 
giving until perhaps only the evening, we may forget to 
praise at all ; and if we do praise, it will in all probability 
be with only half the warmth which would have animated our 
song at first. God loves a quick return for His blessings ; 
one sentence of heartfelt thanksgiving is worth all the for- 
malism of a more labored service. There is a freshness 
about immediate praise which is like the fragrance of the 
early morning, which is like the bloom upon the fruit ; its 
being spontaneous adds ineffably to its price. 

Trace, then, dear reader, a connection between your God 
and your blessing. Recognise His hearing ear as well as 
His bounteous hand, and be yours the Psalmist's words, 
11 1 will praise Thee, for Thou hast heard me." 



n. 



Psalm ix, 1, 2. " I will praise Thee, Lord, with my whole heart" 
"I will be glad and rejoice in Thee" 

Psalm xxxiv, 1. "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall 
continually be in my mouth. 11 

Psalm lxxi, 14. " But I will hope continually, and will yet praise Thee 
more and more. 11 

Psalm cxix, 1. u I will praise Thee with uprightness of heart, when I 
shall have learned Thy righteous judgments" 

Psalm cxliv, 9. "I will sing a new song unto Thee, God. 11 

Psalm cviii, 1. " God, my heart is fixed; IwiU sing and give praise, 
even with my glory. 11 

T will be well to consider for a short time some of 
the attributes of real praise, so that we may not 
only praise, but praise aright. If we be rightly 
instructed, we shall aim not merely at the possession 
of any Christian grace, but at perfection in it. 

The^subject then upon which we are now to dwell is, 
The Attributes of Praise. 

And first let us mention Heartiness in praise. There 
is something pre-eminently miserable in faint unliving praise. 
Amongst men a half-hearted praise is considered almost akin 
to blame, and we may rest assured that no great price can 
be put upon such praise in heaven. 

Lip-service — the mere duty of praise, is of little worth ; 
praise is of that nature that unless it be accompanied by 




PRAISE. 889 

feeling it must be dead and flat, and cease almost to be 
itself: the feeling may not always be the same, it maybe 
gratitude, or admiration, but still it is feeling, and as such 
gives life to praise. 

Let us bring this matter home to ourselves, and we shall 
understand it better by our own feelings than by any argu- 
ments or words. Let us suppose that our children felt it a 
duty to come and praise us every morning, that they came 
either singly or collectively, and with drooping eye, and 
unimpassioned face, and hands hanging listlessly by their 
sides, they began to recite or sing in a monotonous tone their 
obligations to us for letting them sleep beneath our roof and 
eat our food; or suppose we had just given one of these 
children somethimg it had long desired, or saved it from 
some accident, and that it came before us, and in the same 
dull attitude began to repeat some particular form which it 
had evidently got by heart, should not we feel utterly dis- 
gusted at such a would-be exhibition of gratitude as this ? 
And yet this is the kind of praise which we too often offer 
to God. Such is not the praise of which the Psalmist 
speaks here, when he says, " I will praise Thee, Lord, 
with my whole heart ;" he had meaning, he had feeling in 
song : and better would it be for us to hum a psalm tune 
with a feeling of springing of heart to the Lord, than to 
offer up a Te Deum or Jubilate under a cathedral's roof, 
unless our souls pass upward with it to the throne of God. 

Impressed then with a belief of the nothingness of this 
mere £t duty praise,' 7 let us seek distinctly to have our 
hearts stirred up to thankfulness, and to heartiness in praise. 
We may do much for ourselves in this matter by the help 
of the Spirit, for a good deal of our formalism in praise 
comes from not thinking, from our not entering individually 



r 



390 PRAISE. 

into it. Let us think and reason with ourselves somewhat 
in this way — 

" Why should I receive this mercy which God has now 
bestowed ? Are there not hundreds of others whose need 
is as great as mine, and they have not received as much ? 
My pain has ceased, while theirs continues day after day : 
my comforts are many, whilst theirs are but few ; I have 
not deserved this relief in any way : I have received it as a 
gift ; then stir thyself, my heart, to praise. 

Moreover, let us think, what might have been our state 
if we had not received such and such a blessing. Had not 
God mercifully arrested a cough it might have turned to 
consumption ; had He not sent us such and such pecuniary 
help at such a time, we might have been beggared and 
bankrupt before now ; had we not been sent to such a place, 
or been kept back from going to some other place, might we 
not have met with ruin or death ? 

Thoughts such as these would have another good effect, 
viz., that of keeping us in a thankful spirit, and from a 
grumbling and repining one, when things do not fall out 
exactly as we should wish. How do we know what great 
mercies are hidden in these apparent crosses ? If I am hin- 
dered from going to a place, how do I know but that if I 
had taken the journey, I might have slipped getting in or 
out of the train, and have broken my leg, if not my head ? 
how do I know but that if I had gone at that particular 
time to that particular place, I might have trodden perhaps 
upon an orange peel in the street, and have had a fall which 
might have confined me to my bed for weeks ? If I see 
nothing good coming out of what ha/ppens, I believe in the 
warding off of something bad ; and let a circumstance ap- 
pear never so provoking, we may still find plenty of cause 



PRAISE. 391 

for cheerful praise, for, if we be God's children, it must be 
working together with other things for our good. But in 
order that such thoughts as these may induce us to praise 
heartily, they must be something more than mere specula- 
tions ; we may speculate as much as we please as to the 
particular good to be had or the evil to be averted, but we 
must have a deep belief that good is given and evil is 
averted ; the depth of our belief will give heartiness to our 
praise. An unthinking spirit is always an unthankful 
one. But the grand influence is that of the Holy Spirit : 
when He stirs within our hearts, warming and vivifying us, 
we feel rise within us the spirit of praise. Just as the birds 
which have been silent during the winter, sing when they 
feel the influence of the spring, and as they break forth 
^vhen the morning dawns and the shadows of the night have 
hastened away, so the soul which could neither sing nor 
praise for perhaps many a long hour of coldness and dark- 
ness is stirred on the incoming of the Holy Ghost. The 
Spirit of God is a Spirit of praise ; no doubt He is a con- 
victing Spirit, and One who can make thunders roll and 
lightnings flash throughout the heart, but He is also a 
Spirit of genial influences, presiding over and evoking the 
harmonies of the soul ; yes, even more than this, creating 
them, as the Spirit of praise. That praise must be hearty 
indeed, which has its origin from God, it must be accept- 
able as it returns to God again ; may we have it more and 
more ; may we seek it more and more ; we must have God 
Himself to help us, if we would praise Him aright. 

The Psalmist speaks further of the Continuance of his 
Praise. " I will bless the Lord at all times, (or in every 
season ;) His praise shall continually be in my mouth." " I 
will sing unto the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise 



892 PRAISE. 

to my God while I have my being." " I will extol Thee, 
God, my King, and I will bless Thy name for ever and 
ever." 

There are some who can praise only at certain seasons, 
i. e., when they have received some mercy; it is true what 
might be called a small mercy will make them praise, but 
they must always have a finger upon their heart's spring, 
or they have no heart for praise. Each fresh mercy winds 
them up like a musical box, and they play their tune, and 
have done with it ; when another mercy comes, they will be 
set off again for one tune, but for no more ; they want a 
living motive power, and on that account there are such 
long gaps in their sounds of praise. And there are others, 
whose song cannot be called forth, except for some very 
great mercy ; they must be startled into praise ; they must 
almost escape from the jaws of death or ruin, before they 
can see how much they are indebted to God. The intervals 
between the praises of such persons are long indeed ; what 
might be called their minor mercies go for naught, and they 
provoke God to teach them the real greatness of these 
" minor mercies," by the removal of them. Others there 
are, who can never praise when an affliction is upon them ; 
any sad dispensation is enough to quench their spirits, to 
break their harp strings, and to make them hang the harps 
themselves upon the willows ; they cannot put deep mean- 
ing into those words, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord" There is 
shortcoming, however, here, which the child of God must 
endeavor to avoid ; when we are in affliction, God is un- 
changed in His relationship to us, and we are unchanged in 
our relationship to Him ; and praise is in point of fact as 
much His due in the time of sorrow as of joy. No doubt it 



PRAISE. 393 

is hard to practice this ; this is a point of attainment to 
which many a true believer has not reached, but grace can 
easily raise him to praise even in all his pains. Thus was 
it with a poor old widow, who ejaculated thankfully, " How 
favored I am!" under circumstances in which we, perhaps, 
should have thought ourselves accursed. 

" She was a poor widow in the decline of life, and sup- 
ported herself with the most rigid economy by knitting. 

" I saw her in the intense cold of last winter. The 
house was one upon which time had made such sad ravages, 
that one room only could now be inhabited : and in that she 
dare not have a fire when the wind blew hard, because the 
chimney had become unsafe. 

" 'How favored I am,' she said, 'for when it has been 
the coldest, the wind didn't blow much ; or there was so 
much snow on the house I could have a fire without danger. 
I cannot be thankful enough! And then,' she continued, 
1 Joseph has been at home nights almost all the winter, and 
he could get my wood and water, when there was so much 
snow I could not get out.' 

" ' But do you not feel very lonely while Joseph is 
away ?' 

" l Oh, no; I get along very well through the day;' her 
Bible lay upon the table by which she was sewing, { and 
when I can see the neighbors' lights in the evening, it is 
company for me. I have thought a good deal about sick 
people this winter ; and then I think how favored I am. 
that I can go to bed and sleep all night in health.' 

u I saw her again to-day. Rheumatism had disabled one 
foot, and she sat still sewing, with the swollen, painful limb 
raised upon a cushion. 'How favored lam!' she still ex- 
claimed : ' when my poor Lydia was alive, I lost the use of 

■ 17* 



394 PRAISE. 

both my feet for a time, and she took care of me ; but now 
I can get about by moving my foot upon a chair, and I 
make out to do my work and get Joseph's meals ready 
nicely. I can't help thinking, What if it had been my 
hands ? How favored I am P " 

Amid all the varying experiences of life, there ought to 
be no break in the continuity of our praise ; the verse of the 
well known hymn should be indeed our rule : 

" Through all the changing scenes of life, 
In trouble and in joy, 
The praises of my Gocl shall still 
My heart and tongue employ." 

If we cannot ever praise when affliction is upon us, it is 
as much as to say, " Now that I have not the good things 
of God, I have not God Himself; I only know Him in His 
good things, and now that they are away, I cannot recognise 
Him any more." He who would continue in praise, must 
see God in Himself; he must see that though things change, 
He changeth not ; that, although they perish, He endures ; 
though they wax old as a garment, He is the same ; God is 
to be praised, not only for what He gives, and what He 
does, but also for what He is; arid never, probably, can 
purer or more disinterested and genuine praise arise on this 
account, than in the time of our sorrow and pain. We have 
seen some afflicted ones thus praising, and that, with no 
small measure of joy in hours of severe distress; the lips 
were often compressed with excruciating agony, but they 
opened to praise the Lord ; a sigh, a groan, would come 
forth to ease poor burdened human nature, but that was the 
voice of the suffering flesh, and not of the sanctified spirit, 
w T hich was ever ready with its thanksgiving, even though 
the parched and quivering lips were scarce equal to the 



praise. 395 

task.* Oh ! how are many of us rebuked by such sights 
and sounds as these : oh ! how shocking does our ingratitude 
appear, when we recall to mind the wasted form, the sunken 
eye. the parched and burning lip of the poor invalid, unable 
to turn in bed. unable to sleep, unable to eat. unable to 
breathe without pain, and yet able to praise. Surely such 
praise must be of exceeding price in the sight of God, it 
must be like the music of a difficult piece played with a 
master's hand : it must be counted fit for the ear of the 
Monarch, fit for the court of heaven ; and so it is. May we 
learn from the sorrows of others, if we will not from our 
own joys, and praise the name of the Lord. 

Let us not forget, that the Psalmist declared that he 
would praise more and more. " But I will hope continually, 
and will yet praise Thee more and more." Psalm Ixxi. 14. 
Heartiness in praise is good, and so is continuance therein, 
but we should not be content with these, we should aim at 
an increase of praise also. 

Let us remember that an unthankful spirit is a very 
growing one : like all evil weeds it grows apace : unthank- 
fulness for little mercies soon spreads to un thankfulness 
for greater ones, and then to unthankfulness for the 
greatest of all. We ought to have an increasing spirit 
of praise owing to the law of life. That law. as we have 
already observed, is progression, and wherever life is strong, 
praise will be loud. We can easily account for this. The 
child as he progresses in life, and develops in his faculties, 
increases amongst other things in perceptive power : 
increase awakens admiration, wonder, thought : he perceives 
the uses of things, their beauty, their construction, their 

* The author has heard continual praises from a tongue half eaten away 
with cancer — what use, beloved reader, are you making of your tongue ? 



396 PRAISE. 

bearing upon himself, and so forth, and his other faculties 
are brought into play by this increase of perceptive power. 
The child of God was never destined to stand still ; he was 
given life, with the intention of there being aftergrowth, 
and that in praise as well as anything else. How then, it 
might be asked, do we find ourselves getting on with 
reference to growth in praise ? Do we feel our perceptive 
power increasing ; do we find ourselves able to trace God's 
hand more and more ; can we see the bearing of certain 
dispensations upon our good ; can we see that there is bless- 
ing wrapped up in ordinary, common-place experiences ; 
can we perceive more and more how much cause we have 
for praise ? If we be thus increasing in perceptive power, 
surely the accumulation of our mercies ought to affect us ; 
we should every year we live praise more and more ! The 
more we praise for mercies past, the more shall w T e have 
cause given to us to praise, by mercies yet to come. God 
will honor a spirit of praise, even as He honors every grace 
which His Spirit gives. 

All that now remains is that we should briefly notice, 

The different kinds of praise, of which the Psalmist 
speaks. These are Singing to the name of the Lord, 
Manifesting, Blessing, Extolling, Thanksgiving, Ex- 
alting. 

Just as the stem which is full of sap throws out many 
branches, so the believer who is full of a spirit of praise 
will give vent to it in many different forms. Let us con- 
sider some of these. There is 

Manifestation. " I will shew forth all Thy marvellous 
works." Psalm ix, 1. God is greatly praised when His 
people exercise a manifesting spirit — w T hen they speak of 
the good things which He has done for them— when they 



PRAISE. 397 

give Him the glory due unto His name. In this, however, 
they are often deficient : they do not indeed try to take 
credit to themselves, but they do not give the praise to God ; 
they are silent, and by their silence the Most High is robbed 
of His praise. It is no wonder that the people of the world 
know T so little about the Lord, when He is so little brought 
before them by His own people. We ought not to be con- 
tinually receiving good things froni God, without ever 
speaking of them ; for example, if a child has been griev- 
ously ill, and we are congratulated on his recovery, and we 
know and feel that we owe that recovery to the Lord Him- 
self, we should not allow our friends to go away without our 
distinctly recognising before them, and to them, the 
gracious working of God ; without '-shewing forth His 
marvellous work."' How often do we allow the physician, 
and the medicine, and the change of air, and all such means 
to be spoken of, and we are silent about the One from whom 
they derive their efficacy ; we do not shew forth God's 
marvellous works. Who can tell what a blessed effect this 
recognising praise would have upon many of our relatives 
and friends? When they heard us continually bringing 
before them the good things w T hich God has done for us • 
when they heard success in any enterprise, escape from any 
danger, and so forth, ever traced to the one Almighty hand, 
they would perhaps begin to think ; and by our reiterated 
praise, and manifestation, they might be led to believe ; and 
so, our blessings would be put out to interest for God, and 
doubtless would increase and multiply to ourselves. 

When we have received any special good thing from the 
Lord, it is well, according as we have opportunities, to 
tell others of it. When the woman who had lost one of her 
ten pieces of silver, found the missing portion of her money, 



398 PRAISE. 

she gathered her neighbors and her friends together, saying, 
" Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had 
lost." We may do the same; we may tell friends and rela- 
tions that we have received such and such a blessing, and 
that we trace it directly to the hand of God. Why have 
we not already done this ? Is there a lurking unbelief as to 
whether it really came from God ; or are we ashamed to own 
it before those who are perhaps accustomed to laugh at such 
things ? Who knows so much of the marvellous works of 
God as His own people; if they be silent how can we expect 
the world to see what He has done ? Let us not be ashamed 
to glorify God, by telling what we know and feel He has 
done ; let us watch our opportunity to bring out distinctly 
the fact of His acting ; let us feel delighted at having an 
opportunity from our own experience, of telling what must 
turn to His praise ; and them that honor God, God will 
honor in turn ; if we be willing to talk of His deeds, Ee 
will give us enough to talk about. 

" Extolling " is another form which the believer's praise 
will take. a I will extol Thee, Lord, for Thou hast 
lifted me up," &c. Psalm xxx, 1. "I will extol Thee, 
my God, King." Psalm cxlv, 1. To extol is to set 
pre-eminently on high ; to exalt above all others ; it is the 
expression of the greatest possible admiration ; it is letting 
others know our high opinion of a person, and endeavoring 
to win them over to it. The man who has such a high 
opinion of another as to induce him to extol him, will not 
be likely to rest without bringing forth into prominent 
observation the object of his praise. 

This surely suggests an enquiry to each of us ; have we 
this extolling spirit ? do we feel an earnest desire that God 
should be magnified, yea, rather do we feel an earnest 



PRAISE. 399 

desire to magnify Him ourselves ; not only that His name 
should be set on high, but that it should be set on high by 
us. That God's name will be exalted and extolled we may 
be sure, for He will not lose His glory ; but this may be 
done without being done by us. ''Extolling " is something 
more than the faint praise which is given to God, even by 
many of His own dear people ; it is pressing upon men His 
excellencies; it is attracting their attention by unusual 
praise. Let us not be afraid of doing this ; let us make 
men think, by what we have to say of God; let them say, 
" There is a reality in all this; these men must have had 
some experiences out of which they speak and sing." Our 
earnestness, our energy, would doubtless impress many 
with the reality of our religion ; it may be they will ask 
about the dealings of the One we extol ; and while they are 
investigating His claims to our praise, feel constrained to 
praise themselves. 

" This extolling the Lord" will accomplish one of the 
great ends of praise, viz., His exaltation. '-'Thou art my 
God," says the Psalmist, Psalm cxviii, 28, "and I will 
praise Thee; Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee." It i3 
true that God both can and will exalt Himself, but it is at 
once the duty and the privilege of His people to exalt Him. 
His name should be upborne and magnified by them ; the 
glory of that name is now as it were committed to them ; 
what use are we making of the opportunity and the 
privilege ? 

Henceforth, may we be more animated with the spirit of 
praise; henceforth, may we shew the world more of the joy 
of the believer's life, and of the blessedness of the One the 
believer serves ; we shall impress by telling what the Lord 
hath done, when we may entirely fail by declaring what 



400 PRAISE. 

the Lord can do ; the world will pay more attention to us 
when we are praising God for a small mercy, than when 
we are praying to Him for a great one. There is an 
operative power in praise ; let us not lose the reward which 
we might have gained by rightly using the power of praise. 
It may be that they who have here done work the best for 
God, shall have appointed to them the most glorious work 
hereafter ; that they who have praised the most amid the 
scoffers of this world, shall be heard the loudest and the 
sweetest in the choirs of the redeemed. There is perhaps a 
reward in kind as well as in degree. 

Let the time past be sufficient for our silence, and for 
neglect of praise. Let us now invoke the Spirit to stir 
within us the sounds of holy song ; let us string anew the 
harps which have been hung upon the willows ; let us listen 
attentively, and God Himself will give us the key-note for 
our song ; let us but be willing to praise, and God will teach 
us how to praise, yea, by fresh mercies He will quicken us in 
praise. "My heart is fixed, God, my heart is fixed : I 
will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory ; awake 
psaltery and harp : I myself will awake right early. I will 
praise Thee, Lord, among the people : I will sing unto 
Thee among the nations. For Thy mercy is great unto 
the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds. Be Thou 
exalted, God, above the heavens : let Thy glory be above 
all the earth." Psalm lvii, 7, &c. 




III. 

Matthew xxvi, 41. " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is 
weak." 

^UCH were the words of our blessed Lord, as He 
contemplated the slumbering forms of His weak 
disciples. They have in them much that is humil- 
iating, they have in them something that is com- 
forting also. Jesus recognises the willing spirit, albeit it 
is hidden in the weakness of the flesh. And as the Saviour 
did of old, so does He now. so will He do by the reader, 
who desires to make the Psalmist's " I wills " his own. 

Let the reader, then, of these "I wills " be encouraged 
to pronounce in the Psalmist's words his fixed determina,- 
tions both as to endurance and ajtion. Deeply conscious 
of the weakness of the flesh, let us invoke the help of the 
Holy Ghost, and He will energize it for all it has to bear 
or do. Be it our part to bear and do, leaving all results 
with God. 

This willing spirit shall be acknowledged by God in per- 
fect independence of all outward results ; whether the 
willing spirit make a trial, yea, many trials, and fails ; or 
whether no opportunity of making a trial be given to it at 
all. Were it not thus, the labor of the man of God would 
be unsatisfactory indeed ; for the results are very often not 
commensurate with his efforts, much less with his will. The 



402 PRAISE. 

question of results need not be entered into at all. Had the 
man a willing spirit, and if an opportunity were afforded to 
him did he embrace it ? If so, although every plan of 
usefulness failed ; although from a long life of ministry he 
never saved a soul ; from a long life of teaching he never 
made one understand unto eternal life ; from a long life of 
truest charity he never reclaimed a single wanderer, or left 
one continuing impression for good upon his ungodly neigh- 
bors ; the willingness of his spirit shall be recognised in the 
courts of heaven, and not a, tittle of the blessing shall be 
lost. And is not this full of sweetness for such as have 
very willing spirits, but have comparatively few opportu- 
nities of acting openly on behalf of Christ ? At times, such 
reproach themselves, and feel irritable, that while others are 
privileged to do so much, they have scarce an opportunity 
of doing anything at all. They say, " These few shillings 
are all that I can give ; these few hours are all that I can 
offer ; my self-denial has been strict to accomplish even this ; 
but alas ! what is it before God ?' ; Rest assured that God 
will take all your circumstances into account ; and as He 
once gave a wondrous blessing to her who had done what 
she could, so will He give a wondrous blessing to you. 
There are some to whom this statement will be of value ; 
their hearts are their witnesses that they are willing in 
spirit ; their deeds, though small in themselves give a con- 
current testimony, because under the circumstances they are 
great. You are not excluded from the greatness of the 
reward ; the willing spirit shall never want the glorious 
crown. 

We need no widespread sphere on earth, in which to shew 
the willing spirit, and win its high reward. 

The willing spirit is seen in sickness, bereavement, and 



PRAISE. 403 

poverty, in prayers, and strivings, and watchings of soul, 
in perseverance in our difficulties, self-denial in our charac- 
ters, and victory over our sins. And many of God's 
people shew that in all these particulars they have the 
willing spirit ; imperfect, they all doubtless are, but they 
are willing; Christ's words most fitly describe their state. 
That man who lies down all day long afflicted on his bed, 
who recognises a Saviour's loving hand in every pang, and 
wishes to bear for His sake, and mourns when a throe of 
acutest agony has wrung from him an impatient word, or 
stolen from him an impatient look — that man has a willing 
spirit. 

That man who has suffered bereavement, upon whose 
heart wild waves have dashed, and wild winds blown, who 
has suffered, who is suffering, and who, fearful of himself, 
clings close to Christ, and says, " Jesus, Thy will be 
done ; I am not strong enough to make my praise heard 
above this storm, but Thy will be done;" that man though 
his heart cling to fond memories, and his sorrow cut the 
very marrow of his soul, has a willing spirit ; and against 
him there shall not be brought any weakness of the flesh. 

That man who in poverty is compelled to bear, because 
it has pleased God to ordain ; who is not fretful and im- 
patient ; who calms the risings of his soul with the knowl- 
edge of the simple fact that the One that loves him has 
ordered this ; such a man has a willing spirit, and may such 
a spirit be vouchsafed to us. 

Oh may the Holy Ghost Himself strengthen your courage, 
deepen your endurance, and increase your self-denial. Oh 
may He so pervade all your powers of action, that they 
may become willing powerful instruments to work out the 
commands of a willing and a powerful spirit — and who can 



404 PRAISE. 

tell what a glorious picture, poor and weak as we are, we 
shall present to the world, if only the Holy Ghost will give 
us strength ? Perhaps we shall be able to deny all for Him, 
to hear all for Him, to do much for Him ; our " Prayer," 
our " Trust," our "Action," our "Ministry," our "Praise," 
will be full of life from heaven, and the picture presented to 
the world will be Jesus rejoicing over our energy and 
devotion : instead of Jesus standing over our forms prostrated 
and in slumber — testifying in sorrow, that "the spirit 
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 



THE END. 



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